“The political order has been sealed. The message from the Georgian Dream is clear: as long as they remain in power, Saakashvili will not see the daylight,” Beka Basilaia, the lawyer for former President Mikheil Saakashvili, remarked on the verdict delivered by the Tbilisi City Court.

“As we anticipated, this political order has been finalized. The core message of the Georgian Dream is that while they hold power, Saakashvili should remain in political captivity and be deprived of freedom. This is the message we heard today.

When we consider the court’s reasoning behind its decision, it addresses only 10% of the case while ignoring over 90%, even concerning the expenses associated with the armoured vehicle. When the court states that 9 million was embezzled, is renting an armoured vehicle for the President’s security purposes not considered a security measure? And when they reference alleged private expenses, does hosting prominent figures like Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden qualify as a private expense? This pattern of reasoning is unending. There are official receptions to consider, such as hosting delegations from Azerbaijan, Turkiye, or other neighbouring countries. Therefore, the court’s decision appears to fulfil Ivanishvili’s directive,” Basilaia stated.

Regarding the ruling in the case of Temur Janashia, the former head of the State Special Security Service, Basilaia deemed it unlawful.

“From the very beginning, we asserted that it is legally incorrect to charge the head of a paramilitary institution for actions taken under orders from the Commander-in-Chief. We have encountered analogous situations before, where evidence is presented to the court regarding Anzor Chubinidze’s expenditures of a similar nature. The State Special Security Service can’t disregard orders from a person to whom it is subordinate. We provided evidence showing how Mgebrishvili executed Prime Minister Gharibashvili’s orders. Thus, classifying Temur Janashia’s actions as a crime is an unlawful decision,” he concluded.

The Tbilisi City Court has found former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili guilty of embezzling a substantial amount of budgetary funds, sentencing him to nine years in prison for this offence.