Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was sentenced on Wednesday to nine more years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement, the Interpress news agency reported.
Saakashvili, who was president from 2004 to 2013, was jailed for six years for abuse of power after he returned to Georgia in 2021 after a spell abroad. He has spent much of that sentence in a prison hospital.
Georgian television showed scenes of commotion in the courtroom after the verdict was announced, with Saakashvili supporters calling the judge a "slave" of the present government.
A deeply polarising figure in Georgia today, Saakashvili rose to power on a tide of popular acclaim in the 2003 Rose Revolution.
In power, he reorientated Georgia towards the West and embarked on an ambitious public sector reform program that delivered rapid improvements in the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million.
However, the latter part of his tenure was marked by authoritarianism, police brutality, and a disastrous 2008 war with Russia.
In 2012, his United National Movement party lost an election to a coalition headed by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire businessman who remains Georgia's de facto leader to this day.
After leaving office, Saakashvili moved to Ukraine, where he briefly served as governor of the southern Odesa region.
In 2021, he returned to Georgia, despite having been convicted in absentia of abuse of power. He was arrested and jailed on arrival.
Flash floods unleashed by a sudden cloudburst in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on Tuesday (September 16) swept away villages and marketplac...
Spain’s Foreign Ministry announced it will summon Israel’s charge d’affaires on Tuesday to protest remarks made by Israeli Foreign Minister Gide...
Russian Tu-160 bombers practised launching cruise missiles over the Barents Sea on Tuesday during joint military drills with Belarus, as part of the Z...
Large plumes of smoke were rising in Gaza on Tuesday (September 16) morning, amid reports from Axios citing Israeli officials said that the Israeli mi...
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 16th of September, covering the latest developments you need t...
Simon Leviev, made infamous by Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler, has been arrested at a Georgian airport, officials confirmed.
The State Security Service (SSS) of Georgia has confirmed the arrest of two Ukrainian nationals following the discovery of explosive substance inside a truck at the Sarpi customs checkpoint.
Around 300 South Korean workers returned home on Friday, one week after being detained in a large-scale U.S. immigration raid at a battery project site in Georgia.
Georgia’s path toward Europe has rarely been straightforward, but the latest clash between Tbilisi and Brussels highlights just how deeply domestic politics now shape the country’s foreign policy trajectory.
AnewZ has learned that India has once again blocked Azerbaijan’s application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Pakistan’s recent decision to consider diplomatic relations with Armenia has been coordinated with Baku as part of Azerbaijan’s peace agenda.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
A Polish Air Force pilot was killed on Thursday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed during a training flight ahead of the 2025 Radom International Air Show.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
On 15 September, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received Salim bin Mohammed AlMalik, Director-General of ICESCO, in Shusha.
Iran has accused a U.S. delegation in Vienna of threatening the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of cutting off financial support if a draft resolution tabled by Tehran is passed. This resolution condemns the military attacks on nuclear sites in June.
On September 14, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the Hadrut settlement in the Khojavend district. The head of state was briefed on the developments in the settlement.
On September 14, 2025, Karen Albertovich Avanesyan, an Armenian-born resident of Khankendi, born in 1967, went from his residence to a forest area near the city, where he had previously hidden an AK-47 assault rifle, four magazines filled with ammunition, and five hand grenades.
The inaugural Assembly of the Turkic World Insurance Union has officially begun today in Shusha, Azerbaijan.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment