# Saakashvili gets nine-year prison term as Georgia court rules on embezzlement case
Event date: 2025-03-12
A court in Tbilisi has sentenced former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili to nine years in prison for embezzlement, deepening the legal and political saga around one of Georgia’s most polarizing modern leaders.
The ruling was issued by the Tbilisi City Court and reported by DW. The court found Saakashvili guilty of embezzling budgetary funds. It also fined Teimuraz Janashia, the former head of the Special State Protection Service, 300,000 Georgian lari in the same case.
The verdict adds to an already lengthy criminal record for Saakashvili. He is already serving a six-year sentence tied to earlier convictions, including charges related to ordering riot police to beat a former lawmaker and to pardoning officials involved in a separate murder case. The new sentence does not erase those earlier cases; instead, it layers another term onto an already severe prison record.
Saakashvili remains a defining figure in Georgian politics because his rise and fall are bound up with the country’s post-Soviet transformation. He led the Rose Revolution in 2003, became president in 2004, and governed until 2013. During his time in office, supporters credited him with reforms that modernized state institutions and the economy. Critics, however, saw a leader who concentrated power and crossed legal and political lines.
The article by DW notes that Saakashvili went into self-imposed exile in Ukraine for seven years before returning to Georgia in 2021, when he was arrested. Since then, he has spent much of his time in hospital. Hours before the sentencing, he asked for a postponement, citing health problems and wanting to attend the hearing in person. After the verdict, he denied wrongdoing and said he had effectively been sentenced to a life term over official expenses.
His supporters reacted with anger in court, where DW says chaos broke out as the judge read the verdict. That reaction reflects how little consensus exists around Saakashvili’s legacy. To some Georgians, he remains a reformer who took on corruption and pushed the country westward. To others, he is a symbol of excess, abuse of power and political polarization.
The case also has a broader institutional dimension. Georgia’s relationship with its courts, its political opposition and its democratic trajectory has long been contested. Saakashvili’s conviction will likely be read by supporters and critics alike through that lens, with one side seeing justice finally catch up and the other seeing continued judicial pressure on an opposition figure.
The court’s decision is not the end of the matter. The case can still move through appeal procedures, and the political consequences will continue to unfold as Saakashvili remains a reference point in debates over rule of law, accountability and Georgia’s place between East and West.
