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The Tbilisi City Court has sentenced former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to nine additional years in prison, finding him guilty of large-scale embezzlement of budgetary funds, according to a report by Mtavari TV.
According to the prosecution, the former president abused his official position, which he held from 2004-2013, by directing more than 9 million lari (approximately $5 million) from the state budget towards personal use. The expenditures included luxury clothing purchases, cosmetic procedures, car rentals, his son's education fees, and other non-governmental expenses.
The case also involved the former head of the Special State Protection Service, Teimuraz Janashia. The court found him guilty of abuse of power and imposed a fine of 300,000 lari (approximately $108,000). The charges concerned the misappropriation of 9 million lari from the government budget. Saakashvili and Janashia have repeatedly denied the accusations, calling the case politically motivated.
Saakashvili is already serving a six-year sentence for two other cases related to abuse of power, for which he was previously convicted in absentia. After his presidential term ended in 2013, he left Georgia, but was immediately arrested after returning to the country on Oct. 1, 2021.
The new prison term will be counted from the moment of his arrest. According to the court's ruling, Saakashvili will not be eligible for release before Oct. 1, 2030. Meanwhile, he remains involved in other ongoing legal proceedings, including a case concerning the illegal crossing of the state border.
In 2023, Amnesty International called on the authorities in Tbilisi to consider releasing Saakashvili on medical grounds, though the group stopped short of classifying the former president as a political prisoner. The ruling Georgian Dream party, Saakashvili’s political rival, remains in control of the country after claiming a majority in parliamentary elections this past fall. Evidence of massive electoral fraud led to a wave of popular protests, and The Insider estimated that Georgia Dream’s official vote share of 54% had been artificially inflated by between 8-15%.