Exiled ex-president Saakashvili says back in GeorgiaSaakashvili called on his supporters to gather on Tbilisi's main thoroughfare on SundayTBILISI - Ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili said Friday he had returned from exile to Georgia, despite the threat of arrest and ahead of local elections in the Caucasus country gripped by a protracted political crisis. The 53-year-old flamboyant pro-Western reformer was Georgian president from 2004 to 2013 and swept to power in a wave of street protests. Georgia's interior ministry told the independent Formula TV channel that "Saakashvili did not cross Georgia's state border". Georgia plunged into political turmoil last year, when opposition parties denounced elections won narrowly by the ruling Georgian Dream party as rigged. With concerns mounting in the West over the ruling party's democratic credentials, the United States has hinted at possible sanctions against Georgian Dream officials.

Source: Bangkok Post October 01, 2021 07:52 UTC