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Central Europe
August 11, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 11
treme variant of several options the party agreed on August 4. “We’ll see what he [Danko] tells us, because we gave him a certain mandate on Friday and he implemented its most extreme alternative. So we first need to find out what caused him to do it,” he said.
Stateless Saakashvili resurfaces in Poland, Georgia petitions Warsaw for extradition
bne IntelliNews
Georgia's stateless former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, travelled to Poland to attend a com- memoration of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation, according to multiple Polish and Ukrainian media reports. Saakashvili, who lost his Georgian citizenship in 2015 after being granted Ukrainian citizenship, had his Ukrainian passport revoked last week by the host country's immigration service.
Known as a reformist of strong convictions and outspoken manners, Saakashvili left his native Georgia for Ukraine after serving two terms as the country's president. During his tenure, Georgia made progress towards becoming a Western-style democracy, but was also invaded by Russia in 2008 and suffered under Russian sanctions.
In Ukraine, Saakashvili ended up turning former university friend and president Petro Poroshenko into a foe after accusing his administration of hampering his efforts to fight corruption while he served as governor of the Odessa region. After quitting his position as Odessa governor last
The withdrawal of the party was announced by Danko on August 7 in a letter to his coalition part- ners. The SNS leader claims the move is neces- sary to reset the rules within the coalition, and he urged talks on a new agreement.
Mikheil Saakashvili says he could obtain residency in the Netherlands as he has a Dutch wife, Sandra Roelofs (Saakashvili and Roelofs are seen here in 2010 with the Obamas), but he says he is bound for Ukraine to contest the revocation of his citizenship.
November, Saakashvili formed a new political movement.
Saakashvili was caught by surprise by the de- cision to have his passport revoked last week, during a family visit to New York. Having become a stateless person, he was nevertheless able to travel to Poland to join the commemoration in Warsaw.
According to Georgia Today, the Georgian pros- ecutor general addressed an inquiry to the Polish government about Saakashvili's presence in the country, soliciting his extradition to face charges of abuse of power and corruption in Georgia.
In an interview with Voice of America's Georgian service from Poland, Saakashvili said that he could have obtained residency in the US and even the Netherlands, where his estranged wife is from, but that he intends to return to Ukraine and to fight the decision to revoke his citizenship at the European Court of Human Rights.