Saakashvili, ex-president of Georgia, gets 4 1/2 years more in jail, Interpress reports

Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was sentenced on Monday to four-and-a-half more years in jail after being found guilty of illegally crossing the state border, Georgian news agency Interpress reported.

According to the verdict, Saakashvili, who has been imprisoned since 2021 on charges that he says are politically-motivated, will be in prison until 2034 as the sentences will run concurrently.

In office from 2004 to 2013, Saakashvili was convicted last week of embezzling 9 million Georgian lari ($3.3 million) via expenses claims for what prosecutors called "luxury" spending.

Saakashvili was already serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power. He has spent much of that time in a prison hospital.

He is also on trial for a crackdown on protesters in 2007.

After leaving presidential office, Saakashvili moved to Ukraine, where he briefly served as governor of the Odesa region.

He returned in 2021, despite having been convicted in absentia of abuse of power. He was jailed on arrival.