Wed Mar 12 20:52:57 UTC 2025: ## Former Georgian President Saakashvili Sentenced to Nine More Years in Prison
**Tbilisi, Georgia –** Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s former president, has been sentenced to an additional nine years in prison on embezzlement charges, according to Interpress news agency. The verdict, delivered on March 12, 2025, sparked protests in the courtroom from Saakashvili supporters who accused the judge of bias.
Saakashvili, who served as president from 2004 to 2013, was initially jailed in 2021 for six years on abuse of power charges after returning to Georgia from Ukraine. He has since been largely confined to a prison hospital.
His presidency, initially marked by the popular Rose Revolution and pro-Western reforms that led to rapid improvements in the country, was later criticized for authoritarianism, police brutality, and the disastrous 2008 war with Russia. His United National Movement party lost the 2012 election to a coalition led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, who remains a powerful figure in Georgian politics.
Saakashvili’s conviction and ongoing imprisonment remain deeply divisive within Georgia.
First Piper 