Saakashvili sentenced to prison for the fourth time

A Tbilisi court has sentenced former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to 4.5 years in prison for illegally crossing the state border in the fall of 2021, when he secretly returned to the country after an eight-year absence, TV Pirveli reports.

This is the fourth sentence for the former head of state. The third was announced on March 12. Saakashvili was sentenced to nine years in prison for large-scale embezzlement of budget funds. Previously, Saakashvili was tried in two other cases: for beating MP Valeri Gelashvili and for pardoning the killers of United Bank of Georgia employee Sandro Girgvliani.