Georgia says Saakashvili's release impossible

Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze has said there is no possibility of releasing former President Mikheil Saakashvili from serving his sentence or granting him a reprieve at this stage.

"At this stage, within our competence, there is no possibility of either releasing this man [Saakashvili] from serving his sentence or granting him a reprieve," Bregadze said, TASS reports.

According to him, this means that the Georgian authorities exclude the possibility of any alternative way for Saakashvili to serve his sentence on the territory of Ukraine, for example, under Kyiv's guarantees.

Prior to that, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said that the appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili to pardon former head of the republic Mikheil Saakashvili serves the purpose of changing the Georgian government.

According to Garibashvili, the leadership of Ukraine needs Georgia to have a government that is an agent of their interests in the country.