TBILISI (Georgia) - Former President Mikheil Sakashvili was detained after returning to Georgia. This arrest came as the ex leader sought to mobilize supporters ahead national municipal elections that are critical to Georgia's political composition.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili made the announcement hours after Saakashvili was sentenced in absentia for abuse of power. He had posted on Facebook that Saakashvili was now back in Ukraine.
Although details of the arrest weren't immediately available, Georgian TV broadcast video on Friday night of Saakashvili being taken into police custody in handcuffs with a wide smile.
An earlier Facebook video showed Saakashvili claiming he was in Batumi (the Black Sea resort and port that is Georgia's 2nd-largest metropolis). Officials from Georgia denied that he was there earlier in the day.
Saakashvili stated that Saturday's election was crucial" for Georgia in the posts and called for a rally to be held in Tbilisi, promising to attend it.
Saakashvilis efforts to rally Georgians could end the ruling party's plans to win dominance in the local elections for mayors and local assemblies. This is widely considered to be a vote to confidence in the national government. It could also trigger early elections next year.
In April, the European Union brokered an agreement to end a political crisis between the ruling Georgian Dream party, and opposition groups. This included Saakashvili’s United National Movement (the second-biggest political group in the country).
According to the agreement, snap parliamentary elections will be called in 2022 if Georgian Dream gets less than 43% in proportional votes at the local elections in 64 of the country's municipalities.
However, it is not clear if the EU deal will be implemented. Georgian Dream pulled out of the EU deal in July because United National Movement had not signed it. This month, the opposition party signed and Saakashvili urged its supporters to vote at the polls.
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Saakashvili's intense smile in police custody demonstrates his penchant to public drama, especially his bold entrances into hostile places.
In 2003, Rose Revolution protests brought him international attention. He led a group of demonstrators who broke into a session of parliament, forcing Eduard Shevardnadze (then-President) to flee. Shevardnadze was a former Soviet foreign ministry and resigned the next day.
After his Ukrainian citizenship was cancelled, he made his way to Ukraine with a group of supporters in 2017.
Saakashvili returned to Georgia despite the possibility of being arrested. This was in line with Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny who, after returning from Germany in January 2017, was also detained upon his return and sent to prison.
A video of him and Yelizaveta Yasko, a Ukrainian parliament member, was posted to his Facebook page hours after his arrest.
Saakashvili, who was President from 2004 to 2013, was well-known for his energy in fighting Georgia's endemic corruption. However, Georgians began to be dissatisfied with his authoritarian tendencies and sometimes-mercurial behaviour.
Soon after the 2013 election in which he was unable to run for office, Saakashvilii fled the country.
Georgian courts sentenced him to up six years imprisonment in 2018.
Saakashvili emigrated to Ukraine where he was elected governor of the corrupt Odesa region. He also obtained Ukrainian citizenship which nullified his Georgian citizenship. He fell out with Petro Poroshenko at the time and resigned from his position to be stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship.
In 2017, he tried to get back into Ukraine, but was ultimately deported to Poland. Following the election of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Poroshenko's successor, Saakashvili was deported to Poland. He was then appointed to a top anti-corruption position.
According to his spokesperson Serhiy Nikorov, Zelenskyy is worried about this news. The Ukraine appeals to Georgia for information about the circumstances surrounding this Ukrainian citizen and the reasons behind it.
According to the Georgian prosecutor, a case was opened against Saakashvili because he illegally crossed the border. However, the grounds for the charge are unclear as Ukrainian citizens don't need visas to enter Georgia.
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Jim Heintz, Associated Press reporter in Moscow, contributed.
