Crowd frees former Georgian leader from police in Kiev
Protesters take to streets in support of politician accused of trying to oust Ukrainian government
MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI, the former president of Georgia, was freed by protesters yesterday after a dramatic arrest on the rooftop of his Kiev flat.
The authorities had seized the firebrand politician, who served as governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region from 2015 to 2016, on accusations of trying to overthrow the government of his former ally Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president.
But the botched arrest only galvanised support for Mr Saakashvili and led to demonstrations in the capital and a criminal case against his sympathisers in parliament.
Mr Saakashvili had climbed onto the roof of his eight-storey building in Kiev and threatened to jump when heavily armed security forces stormed his flat yesterday morning. “Poroshenko is a thief! Poroshenko is a traitor to Ukraine!” he yelled, before the troopers seized him and put him in a van.
But protesters blocked the vehicle with other cars and makeshift barricades as the police attempted to quell the unrest with tear gas. After an hours- long impasse, the crowd broke open the side door and freed Mr Saakashvili. With handcuffs hanging off one wrist, he called for protests to remove “Poroshenko and his whole gang” and led hundreds to the parliament building.
While Mr Saakashvili addressed protesters outside parliament, Yuriy Lutsenko, the prosecutor general, accused Mr Saakashvili of receiving $500,000 (£371,000) from a “criminal gang” led by Viktor Yanukovych, the former president who fled to Russia in 2014.
Mr Lutsenko played the MPS what he said was a recording of the former Georgian leader agreeing to send a representative to meet Sergei Kurchenko, a Yanukovych associate, who was sanctioned by the European Union after departing Ukraine in 2014.
The prosecutor said a criminal case had been opened against MPS who had “obstructed” yesterday’s arrest, including popular reformers Mustafa Nayyem and Serhiy Leshchenko. He said Mr Saakashvili, who has denied the allegations, must turn himself in and protesters must disperse within 24 hours.
Since he forced his way across the Polish-ukrainian border with supporters in September, the Georgian politician has been holding protests calling for the impeachment of Mr Poroshenko, most recently seen marching through the capital on Sunday.
Mr Saakashvili came to power in Georgia in the 2003 Rose Revolution, promising pro-western reforms, but lost territory in a disastrous war with Russia in 2008. He was charged with abuse of office after he left in 2013. Russia’s justice ministry has named nine US media outlets, including Voice of America, as “foreign agents” after President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing international media to be given the controversial label.
Senators said journalists from outlets labelled as “foreign agents” had been banned from entering Russian parliament’s upper house. Today, Russian MPS are set to vote on whether to ban those journalists from entering the State Duma lower house of parliament.
Russia said this was a retaliatory move after Kremlin-backed RT television registered as a “foreign agent” in the United States under official pressure.