Court in Kyiv refuses to arrest Saakashvili during investigation
The Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv did not grant the request of the prosecutor’s office to take the preventive measure of placing former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, leader of the Rukh novyh syl (Movement for New Forces) Party, under round-the-clock house arrest during the investigation, reported the news agency Interfax-Ukraine on December 11.
“The petition of the prosecutor…about the application of the preventive measure in the form of round-the-clock house arrest concerning the suspect Saakashvili is denied,” announced Larisa Tsokol, the investigative judge of the Pecherskyi district court of Kyiv, on Monday evening.
She also noted that the prosecutor’s office can file an appeal of this decision.
On the evening of December 11, the deadline ended during which the court could decide on pretrial restrictions.
Saakashvili was arrested in Kyiv on the evening of December 8 at the apartment of one of his supporters, the former chief of police. The politician was put on the wanted list after he managed to escape detention on December 5.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, Saakashvili is suspected under the article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine called “Assistance to participants of criminal organizations and concealment of their criminal activities.”
On December 5, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said that the leader of the Movement of New Forces Party, Mikheil Saakashvili, received from businessman Serhiy Kurchenko, who is hiding in Russia, half a million dollars for his activities in Ukraine. He brought recordings of conversations, which, he said, confirm the transfer of money.
Saakashvili says that the accusations against him are false.