TBILISI. March 18 (Interfax) - Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili should declassify current state expenses, former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said during his ongoing trial over the misuse of nine million lari ($3.3 million) from the national budget.
"Today's trial is a continuation of one of the most shameful and absurd trials in Georgian history and globally. President Salome Zourabichvili can declassify current state expenses, and the legal process against me will then cease automatically," Saakashvili told the court via video link from the Vivamedi clinic in Tbilisi.
Despite the hundreds of thousands of citizens' signatures collected for a petition of the European Parliament and European politicians, the president is refusing to sign an act of pardon for Saakashvili, claiming it is a "moral issue," he said.
"I have information that Russia is not allowing Georgian authorities to release me from prison. I want to ask Salome Zourabichvili: does being part of this not bother you, and is this not a moral issue?" Saakashvili said.
Saakashvili secretly arrived in Georgia on September 29, 2021. He was detained in Tbilisi on October 1 and then put in jail in the city of Rustavi, where he went on a hunger strike. On November 8, Saakashvili was transferred to a prison hospital in Tbilisi's Gldani district without the consent of his relatives or lawyers. He was taken to a military hospital in the town of Gori on November 20. On May 12, 2022, Saakashvili was moved to the Vivamedi clinic, where he is currently staying.
Several criminal cases were opened against Saakashvili in Georgia. He called his detention unlawful and the charges brought against him falsified.