Georgia arrests exiled former president Saakashvili

(File photo) Georgia former president Mikheil Saakashvili

Authorities in Georgia arrested former president Mikheil Saakashvili yesterday, shortly after he returned from exile, setting up a potential showdown with his supporters in the opposition. Saakashvili, a pro-Western reformer who left the Caucasus country after his second term as president ended in 2013, announced his return in video messages yesterday, a day before closely-watched local elections. His opponents in the ruling Georgian Dream party had warned Saakashvili would be arrested on a 2018 abuse of office conviction if he returned, and Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said he had quickly been detained. “Georgia’s third president Mikheil Saakashvili has been arrested today and sent to jail,” Garibashvili told a news conference in the capital Tbilisi. Georgian media reported that Saakashvili was in a jail in the town of Rustavi about 30km (20 miles) from Tbilisi. The interior ministry released a video showing a smiling and handcuffed Saakashvili being taken from a police vehicle and escorted by two officers inside a facility. The 53-year-old’s arrest will almost certainly spark upheaval in Georgia, a small former Soviet republic in the Caucasus that has been plagued for years by political instability. In a video posted on social media yesterday evening, Saakashvili said he was in Tbilisi and believed he was about to be detained, calling on supporters of his United National Movement to mobilise for the elections today. “Go to the polls, vote and on (Sunday) we will all together celebrate our victory,” he said. “I am not afraid of anything, and you also should not be afraid.” In an earlier video message, Saakashvili said he was in the western city of Batumi and had risked his “life and freedom” to return to Georgia from Ukraine. The municipal elections are a key test for Georgian Dream and are being watched both inside and outside Georgia for signs of the country backsliding on democracy. Saakashvili – who swept to power in 2004 following a peaceful uprising and still commands a fiercely loyal following – called in one video for his supporters to gather tomorrow on the main thoroughfare in the capital Tbilisi. “If the usurper government manages to detain me prior to this, it must only strengthen us,” he said addressing supporters of the UNM, which he founded. Saakashvili was convicted in absentia on the abuse of office charges in 2018 and sentenced to six years in prison. He denies any wrongdoing and says the case is politically motivated.