TBILISI. Oct 4 (Interfax) - An inquiry has been opened in Georgia over suspicion of former President Mikheil Saakashvili illegally crossing the country's border, the Georgian Prosecutor General's Office said on Friday.
Three Georgian courts of different instances earlier found Saakashvili guilty of beating a member of parliament, Valeri Gelashvili, and offenses related to the murder of Sandro Girgvliani, the Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement, highlighting that Saakashvili has been sentenced in absentia to six years in prison.
The other four criminal cases opened earlier against Saakashvili in Georgia concern the dispersion of a peaceful rally in Tbilisi on November 7, 2007, the forcible takeover of the office of IMEDI TV the same day, the illegal seizure of assets allegedly belonging to businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, and the embezzlement of nine million lari (about $3,000,000).
Saakashvili wrote on a social networking website on Friday morning that he had arrived in Georgia. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Friday evening that Saakashvili, who has returned from Ukraine, had been detained and escorted to jail.