Mikhail Saakashvili expressed solidarity with Alexei Navalny

The former president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, expressed his solidarity with the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in prison and faces 20 years in prison in a new criminal case.

I stand in solidarity with Alexei Navalny! A very talented fighter for freedom, against the inhumane Russian regime, may be sentenced to 20 years. Alexey, you are a symbol of much greater historical significance than all your tormentors combined – wrote Saakashivla on Twitter. He expressed his confidence that Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia will soon collapse, and also noted that he supports Navalny’s decision to return to Russia in 2021, where he was awaiting arrest. “We cannot change our countries without being in them, even if it means enormous difficulties in prison.” Saakashvili wished Navalny health and strength.

Mikhail Saakashvili himself was sentenced in Georgia to six years in prison, now he is under custody in a private clinic in Tbilisi, where he is undergoing treatment. Saakashvili considers his criminal prosecution to be political, accusing the Georgian authorities of carrying out Vladimir Putin’s order. He also claims that he may have been poisoned – just like Navalny, who blames Russian authorities and special services for his poisoning in 2020.

In April of this year, Navalny appealed to the authorities in Georgia to release Saakashvili for treatment. “Saakashvili is very sick, and all the talk about simulation is nonsense. Believe me, the prison sucks the health out of everyone and with great speed. It would be the most correct thing to release him for treatment with a suspended sentence or to do something like that, which would allow the parties to comply with the law and save face,” the text, which was published on Navalny’s social networks, says.

Alexei Navalny then noted that he did not know Saakashvili and had never met him, but “he decided to write as a man and a Christian.” He also apologized for his previous anti-Georgian statements, which were often mentioned by Navalny’s critics, accusing him of “imperialism.”

• The prosecutor’s office on Thursday wanted to sentence opposition politician Alexei Navalny to 20 years in a special regime colony in a new criminal case on extremism. This was announced during an outside session of the Moscow City Court in the colony in the Vladimir Region, where the oppositionist is serving a 9-year term in the previous case. The verdict will be announced on August 4.
• The politician is charged with six articles of the Criminal Code, including the creation and financing of an extremist community, incitement to extremism, rehabilitation of Nazism, and the involvement of minors in committing dangerous acts. In a separate production, an episode on an article about terrorism is allocated. The case, in particular, is about the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBC) – an organization founded by Navalny, which was declared extremist in 2021 at the request of the prosecutor’s office, and its activities are prohibited on the territory of Russia. Navalny does not admit guilt, considering his persecution to be politically motivated. Human rights activists recognized Navalny as a political prisoner.