Georgia must get rid of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili’s opposition party, the United National Movement, just as Germany did after 1945 with representatives of Adolf Hitler’s party, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said.
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“The fact that the National Movement will overcome the barrier is of course a grief, but if Hitler’s party had remained in Germany after 1945, they would also have gained 15-20%… in the end, how the Germans got rid of this misfortune in their time is very easily and strictly, we must also save Georgia from this misfortune, the collective “National Movement,” the Prime Minister said.
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Previously, the ruling party of Georgia has repeatedly reported that if it receives a constitutional majority following the fall parliamentary elections, the United National Movement party of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili will be declared unconstitutional, and parliamentarians’ parliamentary mandates will be revoked. Prime Minister Kobakhidze said that the United National Movement party also indirectly includes other opposition parties.
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At the end of July, jailed ex-President of Georgia Saakashvili called on supporters to be prepared for street protests after the autumn parliamentary elections in Georgia. The former Georgian leader himself is in the Vivamed clinic in Tbilisi, where he is being treated after a long hunger strike.
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Saakashvili was detained in Georgia on October 1, 2021; he is involved in a number of criminal cases. The politician was convicted in absentia in the cases of the murder of banker Sandro Girgvliani and the beating of deputy Valery Gelashvili. In the first case, Saakashvili was sentenced to three years in prison, in the second – to six. In addition, he is involved in the case of the dispersal of an opposition rally on November 7, 2007, the pogrom of the Imedi television company, embezzlement of funds from the state budget and illegal border crossing – these are still being considered by the courts. Former Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili stated that Saakashvili will remain in prison for a long time, he will serve his entire sentence.
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On August 2, the Tbilisi City Court chose arrest as a preventive measure for Saakashvili in the case of illegal border crossing. This means that even if Zurabishvili pardons Saakashvili on other matters, he will not be able to be released.
