In Tbilisi City Court, in the so-called "Jacket Case," the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Axar.az reports citing georgian media.

Judge Badri Kochlamazashvili sentenced Saakashvili to 9 years in prison and revoked his right to hold any public office for 3 years.

Meanwhile, the former head of the State Protection Service, Temur Janashia, was fined 300,000 GEL and also had his right to hold any public office revoked for 3 years.

Saakashvili's sentence will begin from the moment the verdict is delivered, and the time spent in prison from October 1, 2021, to March 12, 2025, will be counted toward his sentence.

In the so-called "Jacket Case," the prosecution accused Mikheil Saakashvili and Temur Janashia of embezzling large amounts of money from the President's Reserve Fund.

According to the prosecution, between September 2009 and February 2013, Mikheil Saakashvili, as the President of Georgia, embezzled over 9 million GEL from the state budget for services rendered to himself and various individuals both inside and outside Georgia, in a secret manner.

In the hearing held on March 10, Saakashvili, who joined the session remotely from the Vivamed clinic, stated in his closing remarks that during his presidency, his salary ranged from 3,000 to 4,000 GEL, and with this amount, he could not have hosted Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

The prosecution charged Saakashvili with this case in 2014.