Georgia’s ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili took to Facebook this morning to announce his return to Georgia.
“Good morning Georgia. Already from Georgia, after eight years,” Saakashvili said in a post.
The Georgian Interior Ministry his yet to confirm or deny the arrival of Mikheil Saakashvili in Georgia.
Saakashvili, who is currently based in Ukraine, said earlier he was planning to fly back to Tbilisi on October 2, the day local elections are being held in Georgi, “to help “save the country.”
“…The fate of Georgia is being decided, Georgia’s survival is at stake and that’s why I took a ticket on the evening of October 2 so I can be with you and protect your (political) will with you, so I can take part in saving Georgia,” said Saakashvili in a video on his Facebook page, where he also posted a photo of his purported plane ticket.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said the police would arrest Saakashvili if he came back.
“As soon as Saakashvili steps on our soil he will be arrested and sent to prison,” the Interfax news agency cited Garibashvili as telling reporters.
Saakashvili was sentenced in absentia to six years in prison by a Georgian court in June 2018 for abuse of power and seeking to cover up evidence about the beating of an opposition member of parliament when he was president.
