Tbilisi court upholds prison sentence for ex-Georgian President Saakashvili

Tbilisi Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court’s verdict against former Georgian President and Ukrainian citizen Mikheil Saakashvili, confirming his conviction over the illegal crossing of Georgia’s state border.

The appellate court dismissed Saakashvili’s appeal and maintained the original sentence handed down earlier this year, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

On March 17, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Saakashvili to four years and six months in prison over the border violation case. This sentence will be added, in part, to a previous conviction from March 12, which saw the ex-president sentenced to eight years in prison and barred from holding public office for three years.

“The court finds Saakashvili guilty in the case concerning unlawful border crossing,” said Judge Mikheil Jinjolia. “He is sentenced to four years and six months’ imprisonment, part of which is to be served consecutively with the earlier eight-year term.”

Under Georgian law, the prison term is calculated from October 1, 2021. Unless granted a pardon or released on parole, Saakashvili is expected to remain behind bars until 2034.

Pardons are at the discretion of the Georgian president, while decisions on conditional release are made by a parole board, which evaluates the seriousness of the offence, the prisoner’s conduct, and risk assessments.

By Aghakazim Guliyev