German masseuse and abuse of power: what is Mikheil Saakashvili being tried for

There may be more criminal cases against the former president of Georgia

Litigation against the ex-president of Georgia and the governor of the Odessa region, Mikheil Saakashvili, continues, despite the sharp deterioration in his physical condition. Saakashvili already has two sentences in absentia, but it is likely that the list of his convictions will soon be replenished with new articles, which the Georgian prosecutor’s office strongly insists on. What is the odious politician accused of and for what other crimes can he stand trial?

Fear of criminal prosecution forced Saakashvili to leave Georgia at the time, without even waiting for the formal expiration of presidential powers, back in 2013. In less than a year, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia brought several charges in absentia against the former head of state at once, some of which are still being investigated.

Now the Tbilisi court is considering the case on the violent dispersal of the action on November 7, 2007. It was at this trial on Monday that Saakashvili, who had become very emaciated, testified as an accused by video link.

The performance of the anti-presidential opposition, suppressed by force, led to five hundred wounded. During the dispersal, the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia also seized the employees of the opposition Imedi channel with violence against the oligarch Badri Patarkatsishvili, from whose family the state began to squeeze out business after that.

The actions of the security forces, according to the prosecutor’s office, were sanctioned personally by Saakashvili. The defense of the former head of the Georgian state insists on the opposite. As for Patarkatsishvili, who was killed a year after the protests were suppressed, the official culprits from among high-ranking security officials have already been identified and arrested. However, the prosecutor’s office, based on the records of the defendants’ conversations, also has evidence of Saakashvili’s direct involvement in the crime.

The verdict on the embezzlement of 8.8 million lari (almost $5 million at the rate of 2014 and almost 3 million at the current one) remains pending. The investigation believes that Saakashvili, being the head of state, spent the money of Georgian taxpayers on expensive coats and suits, as well as foreign masseuses, cosmetologists, chef designers and other pleasures.

The personal chef of the former Georgian President Sergio Calderon Latas, specially ordered from Spain, together with an interpreter, payment for housing and the preparation of delicious dishes, cost 110 thousand dollars at the old rate. Massage services to Saakashvili were provided by the well-known masseuse Dorothy Stein, who was brought to Tbilisi from Germany at state expense.

For public money, the politician also bought elite watches, rented expensive Porsche and Mercedes cars, and used a private helicopter and yachts. For embezzlement, the former president of Georgia can get up to nine years in prison. Saakashvili deliberately classified all these expenses from the treasury, which gave the prosecutors a reason to start checking against him regarding the violation of the law “On State Secrets”.

Saakashvili’s involvement in the death of Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania in 2005 still remains unclear. Relatives of the deceased initially did not believe in the official version of household gas poisoning from a heater, which was even confirmed by experts from the US FBI.

The opposition, represented by the leader of the Labor Party of Georgia, Shalva Natelashvili, insisted on the direct guilt of the president in the murder because of the “sharing of profits from the sale of the Georgian Shipping Company.” In 2012, the prosecutor’s office began to reconsider the case and prosecuted several people from 2014-2015. Now the former President of Georgia is a witness in the case.

Saakashvili already has a conviction for two episodes. The first time the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Saakashvili in absentia to three years in prison was in January 2018. The former president of the country was found guilty of illegally pardoning convicted officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the murder of Sandro Girgvliani, an employee of the United Bank of Georgia. The killers were sent to jail in 2006, and in 2008 Saakashvili released them into the wild, bypassing the pardon commission.

Another sentence against the politician was issued in June 2018 for organizing the beating of a member of the Georgian parliament, Valery Gelashvili. In 2005, opposition politician Gelashvili spoke sharply in the media about the president, accusing him of seizing property. For this, on the instructions of Saakashvili, he was severely beaten. The case was opened back then on fresh tracks, however, while Saakashvili remained president, it was not possible to conduct a full-fledged investigation.

Criminal terms under Georgian law are not cumulative, so for now, the maximum time that Saakashvili will spend in prison if he is not found guilty in the current and subsequent trials will be only six years.