Tbilisi City Court Sentences Saakashvili to 6 Years in Gelashvili Case

Yesterday evening, Tbilisi City Court released its verdict on the charges against former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili in the case of the beating an intimidation of opposition MP Valeri Gelashvili. Saakashvili was found guilty for “abuse of power with the use of violence” and “organization of serious harm to health by a group of persons.” Judge Shorena Guntsadze sentenced him to six years in prison. Saakashvili was also banned from accepting any government post for two years and three months.

The trial was conducted in absentia, as Saakashvili is currently living in his wife’s home country of The Netherlands. Saakashvili lost his Georgian citizenship in 2015 when he became a citizen of Ukraine in order to join the government there. He was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship and deported, leaving him a stateless person, in 2017 after conflicts with the government of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

In 2005, opposition lawmaker Valeri Gelashvili was brutally beaten, while Saakashvili was President and his United National Movement party led the country. According to DFWatch, “Gelashvili was driving along in his car when he was surrounded by unknown assailants and severely beaten. This happened right after he had given an interview to the newspaper Rezonansi in which he shared details about Saakashvili’s private life that had not been made public before.” Gelashvili suffered skull trauma, numerous fractures of facial bones, lacerations in the nose and forehead, and fractures of the bones of the upper and lower jaw

In 2014, three foreign prosecutors visited Georgia and concluded that was enough evidence to continue the case’s criminal prosecution. Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s office supported the conclusion. When Saakashvili was criminally charged in July, 2014, many European and U.S. politicians claimed the charges were politically motivated. The Council of Europe also implied that the prosecution of former officials in Georgia was politically motivated, especially charges against Saakashvili.

Former Interior Minister, Ivane Merabishvili, former Head of the Special Operative Department, Erekle Kodua, and former Unit Head in the Special Operative Department, Gia Siradze, were charged in the case alongside Saakashvili – all three were found guilty.

Saakashvili spoke with TV station Rustavi2 after the verdict was announced, renouncing the decision and denying his participation in the attack on Valeri Gelashvili. "I am as guilty of beating up Valery Gelashvili as of murdering Kennedy, Trotsky, and the assassination of Caligula. It is an ordinary clown show that has nothing to do with the law," said Saakashvili.

This is the second guilty verdict for Mikheil Saakashvili, leaving a total sentence of nine years of prison time. In January, Saakashvili was sentenced by Tbilisi City Court to three years for abuse of power in connection with the 2006 murder of Sandro Girgvliani.

By Samantha Guthrie

Photo: AFP

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