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Tens of thousands of Georgians rallied Thursday in the capital Tbilisi to demand the release of jailed ex-president and opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili.
Chanting Saakashvili’s nickname “Misha!” and waving national flags, demonstrators filled the city’s Freedom Square and main thoroughfare Rustaveli Avenue, with an AFP correspondent estimating the crowd at more than 50,000 people.
Georgia’s president from 2004 to 2013, Saakashvili was arrested and imprisoned in early October upon his return from exile in Ukraine.
The 53-year-old founder of Georgia’s main opposition force, the United National Movement, has declared a hunger strike and doctors have expressed concern over his deteriorating health.
The flamboyant pro-Western reformer was convicted in absentia on charges of abuse of office and sentenced to six years in prison in 2018. He has denied wrongdoing.
Saakashvili’s lawyer Nika Gvaramia read out an address to the crowd calling for the government linked to his main rival—powerful tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili—to be “destroyed”.
“Georgia must return to its pro-Western path and become a beacon of democracy, reforms and development,” the letter said.
“It is time to save Georgia through our national unity and reconciliation.”
On Thursday morning, kilometres-long motorcades carrying Saakashvili supporters headed to Tbilisi from across the country, the independent Pirveli TV station reported.
Busloads of riot police were deployed outside the parliament building ahead of the protest.
Saakashvili has called on his supporters to mobilise against Ivanishvili, who founded the ruling Georgian Dream party and is widely believed to be the top decision-maker in the country.
Vote controversy
Saakashvili was stripped of his Georgian passport after he acquired Ukrainian nationality in 2016 and…
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Source : france24
