Saakashvili may be extradited to Georgia
If former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has settled in Ukraine, is extradited to Georgia, then even his connections in the American establishment will not help him avoid criminal punishment.
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This is the opinion in the commentary to “Moskovsky Komsomolets” expressed Director of the Institute of Peacemaking Initiatives and Conflict Studies Denis Denisov.
“I do not rule out that Saakashvili may be extradited to Georgia, but it will be problematic for Kyiv to explain this fact to its people. Over the past few months, a serious conflict has indeed occurred between Saakashvili and Poroshenko. It is connected both with economic contradictions between them and with ideological ones. As we remember, after the coup in Ukraine, Western countries recommended Kyiv to attract politicians from other post-Soviet countries who adhere to a pro-Western position. In this regard, he was appointed to the post of governor of the Odessa region, where he showed that he was not a good manager.
After the failure, he traditionally transferred his problems to the public sphere. Saakashvili sought excuses for himself, citing corrupt Ukrainian officials. However, this is not so important, given that it was revealed that he organized a criminal scheme for embezzlement and misappropriation of state property, which he carried out together with his associates. Of course, Saakashvili, having a number of connections in the US State Department, has a certain immunity, but if he is given to Georgia, this is unlikely to help him avoid punishment,” Denisov believes.
The publication recalls that during his recent visit to Georgia, President Poroshenko tried to justify himself for the decision of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, which twice refused to extradite Saakashvili to its Georgian colleagues, and stated that there were no requests from Georgia.
But on Wednesday, Georgian Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani refuted Poroshenko’s assertion, noting that there were requests and the documentation sent contained sufficient arguments against Saakashvili in all the criminal cases that he was charged with. At the same time, the head of the Georgian Ministry of Justice emphasized that this case cannot be considered political, since there is more than enough evidence of the fugitive president’s guilt.
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