US ambassador: Saakashvili case is test for Georgian judicial system

United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan has said she sees the case of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who was detained in Tbilisi on Octoer 1, as a test for Georgia’s judicial system.

“Mr. Saakashvili’s case will be a test of the Georgian judicial system, and we’ll be watching to see if the case is handled impartially and in accordance with Georgian law and Georgia’s international obligations,” Degnan told journalists on Saturday.

She suggested that Georgia needs “more political stability and not more polarization.”

In commenting on the local elections being held in Georgia on October 2, Degnan mentioned what she saw as “really important issues that this country needs to deal with, like jobs and high prices, and Covid, education, water, roads.”

“We really hope that after these elections, Georgia’s political leaders are going to get back to work on the issues that are the priorities for the Georgian public,” she said.

Saakashvili wrote on social networks on Friday morning that he had come to Georgia from Ukraine after being absent in the country for about eight years. The same evening, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced that Saakashvili was detained and put in prison.

Saakashvili is a citizen of Ukraine.

Chairman of the ruling party Georgian Dream Irakli Kobakhidze told the media Saakashvili came to his home country to stage a coup.

Georgia earlier declared Saakashvili wanted as a person convicted in absentia in several criminal cases and treated as a suspect in some others. Georgian authorities have warned repeatedly that he would be detained immediately once crossing the border.

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