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Tbilisi City Court to try Saakashvili on counts of public funds' embezzlement
TBILISI. Nov 15 (Interfax) – The Tbilisi City Court will try former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on counts of embezzlement of public funds on Monday.
The prosecution service has charged Saakashvili with embezzling 9 million lari (about $3 million) of state budget funds.
Saakashvili’s lawyers have dubbed the charges as "the jacket case" and said that the prosecution service has accused the former president of buying a number of suits and gifts for senior foreign officials who visited Georgia.
In turn, the ruling party Georgian Dream said it was "the Botox case" and claimed that the former president ordered services of a masseuse from Germany and repeatedly flew to various foreign cities with his entourage for weekend getaways to famous restaurants.
Lawyer Beka Basilaya told reporters that Saakashvili was unlikely to attend his trial on Monday.
"Mikheil Saakashvili really wants to take part in this trial, but the authorities are unlikely to allow that," the lawyer said.
The Tbilisi City Court tried Saakashvili on November 10 on counts of dispersing an opposition rally by force and storming the Imedi TV company headquarters in Tbilisi on November 7, 2007. The Georgian Justice Ministry prohibited the former president from taking part in the trial, citing the need to ensure his personal safety.
The former Georgian president, currently a citizen of Ukraine, secretly arrived in Georgia on September 29 and was detained in Tbilisi on October 1. He was moved from the Rustavi prison to a prison infirmary in the Gldani district of Tbilisi on November 8 without the consent of his lawyers and family.
Saakashvili is wanted in Georgia as a person convicted in absentia and treated as a suspect in several criminal cases. The Georgian authorities repeatedly said he would be detained as soon as he crossed the Georgian border. Saakashvili described his detention as unlawful and the charges brought against him as falsified.
