The Tbilisi City Court has found former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili guilty of embezzling $3.2 million of public funds and sentenced him to nine years in prison.
The verdict was read out by judge Badri Kochlamazashvili. According to the court's ruling, Teimuraz Dzhanashia, Saakashvili's former chief of security, was also found guilty, but he escaped with a fine of 3,000 laris (over $1,000).
Mikheil Saakashvili was not present at the hearing, did not plead guilty, neither did he connect via video conference call due to health reasons.
The new prison term will be calculated from the moment of Saakashvili's arrest on October 1, 2021. In addition, trials are ongoing against him in cases of dispersing an opposition rally on November 7, 2007, and illegally crossing the border.
Saakashvili is already serving a six-year sentence. Sentences against him were previously handed down in two other cases - the beating of MP Valeri Gelashvili and the pardoning of the killers of United Bank of Georgia employee Sandro Girgvliani.
Mikheil Saakashvili returned to Georgia in October 2021 and was soon arrested on several criminal charges. Seven months later, he was transferred to the Vivamedi clinic for examinations.
