A Georgian court today sentenced the country's former prime minister Van Merabishvili to five and a half years in prison for embezzlement, which his lawyer and allies consider an act of political persecution.
Merabishvili, who was prime minister under President Mikheil Saakashvili, was accused of providing fictitious jobs to activists working on his party's 2012 parliamentary election campaign, AFP reports.
Former Health Minister Zurab Tsiaberashvili, who was charged together with Merabishvili, was sentenced to a fine of $27.000.
Merabishvili, who has been in custody since May of last year, was the secretary general of Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM) party, which was defeated in the aforementioned elections by the Coalition of Dreams of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Merabishvili's lawyer, Otar Kahidze, said his client would appeal the "illegal verdict", accusing the judge of acting under pressure from the prosecution.
The secretary for foreign affairs of the UNM party, Giga Bokeria, points out that the verdict against Merabishvili "destroys the political culture in Georgia, since political opponents and opposition leaders are imprisoned for political reasons."
After President Saakashvili's departure from power, dozens of his allies were put under investigation on charges of corruption and abuse of power. Western officials have expressed concern over the possibility that the investigations could in some cases be politically motivated.
Ivanishvili, whose fortune Forbes magazine estimated last year at $5,3 billion, became Georgia's prime minister after the 2012 election, but soon ceded power to self-selected ally Irakli Garibashvili. However, Ivanishvili is still believed to have enormous influence on Georgian politics.
Former Georgian President Saakashvili, who is accused by his opponents of using excessive force against anti-government protesters in 2007 and 2009, will be remembered for the unsuccessful war he waged against Russia in 2008, but also for fixing the situation in the previously extremely corrupt Georgian police and drastically reducing crime. .
After last year's presidential elections, Saakashvili left Georgia and today works as a lecturer at the American Tufts University.
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