Saakashvili’s Supporters Free Him from Police

Ukrainian protesters and supporters of Georgia’s ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili have freed him from the police van, where he was put after the Ukrainian law enforcers searched his flat and detained him.

The van was blocked by protesters for hours. Saakashvili was eventually freed and he repeated his calls for protests against current Ukrainian President Poroshenko.

Saakashvili has been accused of cooperating with a criminal organization, for which he may face up to five years in jail.

According to Ukrainian media outlet Kyiv Post, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said that Saakashvili took $500,000 from fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Sergiy Kurchenko to organize protest rallies in Kyiv.

Lutsenko also said that the state security service had found evidence that Saakashvili contacted Kurchenko through his representative Severion Dangadze and negotiated for financial support in exchange for defending Kurchenko’s business interests in Ukraine.

“Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office and SBU security service late on Dec. 3 arrested Dangadze, who is the head of the Kyiv branch of Saakashvili’s Movement of New Forces,” Kyiv Post said.

Lutsenko said Dangadze is accused of treason and cooperation with a criminal organization.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has commented on the recent developments in Kyiv, expressing hope that Saakashvili’s safety will be ensured.

The ongoing processes in #Kiev are the internal affairs of #Ukraine; at the same time, in the center of the events is the former President of Georgia Mikheil #Saakashvili, whose security we hope will be ensured.

— President Of Georgia (@MargvelashviliG) December 5, 2017

By Thea Morrison

 Photo source: Gleb Garanich/Reuters