Page 46 - bne_Magazine_March_2018

46 I Eastern Europe bne March 2018
Ex-Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili's arrest in a Kyiv restaurant.
native Georgia in 2004-2013 and was invited to Ukraine by Poroshenko after the latter took office in 2014. Saakashvili was appointed the regional governor- ship of Odesa from 2015-2016 before falling out with Poroshenko and joining the opposition. Once close allies, the two men have become bitter rivals.
Now head of the Movement of New Forces party, the stateless Saakashvili arrived in Poland from where he entered Ukraine without documents in September.
After his return to Ukraine, Saakashvili organised a series of rallies calling for Poroshenko’s impeachment and general- ly tried to whip up sentiment against the government, accusing it of corruption and of failing to live up to the promises made during the Maidan popular upris- ing in 2014 that ousted former president Viktor Yanukovych.
Saakashvili has been a thorn in the side of Poroshenko, who tried to arrest him several times with farcical results. He was bundled into a police van outside his apartment in December only to be res- cued by a mob of supporters who ripped the doors open and pulled him to safety. After the third effort to detain him, he was swiftly released again when thou- sands demonstrated for his release.
However, other than a small hard-core group, Saakashvili enjoys little public support and polls in the low single digits. Presidential elections are slated for 2019, but since Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship last July the Georgian politician has said he won’t stand, though he hinted that he was open to becoming prime minister.
Instead, Saakashvili has thrown what political weight he has behind Yulia Tymoshenko, opposition leader, former prime minister and head of Batkivshchy- na (Fatherland) party, who very publicly joined him during his illegal border crossing in September. A populist hoping to make hay from the fracas Saakashvili has created, Tymoshenko is currently leading the presidential polls, ahead of Poroshenko by a small margin.
Saakashvili is not the only one suffering
Saakashvili deported from Ukraine
KYIV BLOG:
Ben Aris in Berlin
Ukraine’s would-be opposition leader and ex-Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was deported from Ukraine to Poland on February 12. Like a scene from some gangland movie, Saakashvili was arrested in a downtown Kyiv restaurant and dragged out of the building with officers holding him by the hair, video footage circulated on social media shows.
Saakashvili denounced the arrest and lashed out at President Petro Poro- shenko in a statement: “This is not a president and not a man. This is a lowlife crook, who wants to wreck Ukraine.
All this shows how weak they are. We will of necessity defeat them.”
Unidentified supporters of Saakashvili attacked the arresting officials, who were forced "to defend themselves and use force", according to a State Border Service spokesman. However, later the authorities said in a statement that Saa- kashvili had left the country “in compli- ance with all legal procedures” and is now in Poland.
State Border Service spokesman Oleh Slobodyan confirmed on his Facebook
www.bne.eu
page that Saakashvili was arrested by the agency’s officers, the State Migration Service, and regular police officers.
Saakashvili's lawyer Ruslan Chornolutsky said the deportation was "a kidnapping and not a detention", Reuters reported. He said this was because any detention should be "based on either [a] court decision or some other proceeding docu- ments". This "was not the case", he said.
Under Ukrainian law forced deportation or extradition is only possible if there is a specific court warrant. Even then the ruling can be appealed within 30 days, and extradition or deportation can only happen after the appeals court has made its ruling. It seems that this procedural step has been skipped and Saakashvili was put on a plane on the same day as his arrest. Moreover, his lawyers have also filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the decision to deny the politician refugee status. Finally, his lawyers are challenging Poroshenko’s decision to cancel Saakashvili’s citizen- ship – a presidential prerogative.
From allies to bitter rivals Saakashvili served as president of his