11:57 12.09.2017

Supporters detained for helping Saakashvili enter Ukraine - Saakashvili's inner circle

2 min read
Supporters detained for helping Saakashvili enter Ukraine - Saakashvili's inner circle

Two activists have been detained for their involvement in the Sunday events that saw former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and a crowd of supporters barge past border guards to enter Ukraine from Poland, David Sakvarelidze, a Saakashvili supporter and a Movement of New Forces member, has said.

"Our activist from Cherkasy, Andriy Kotychenko, has now been arrested. He was precisely among those who brought Mikheil into Ukraine... He is being transported to Lviv at the moment. Yesterday, 15 representatives of the Interior Ministry detained our supporter from Ivano-Frankivsk, Oleksandr Burtsev, who also played an active role in Sunday's events," Sakvarelidze wrote on his Facebook page.

Sakvarelidze described these actions taken by law enforcement agencies as "political reprisals."

"We will defend each of our supporters and like-minded persons," he said.

Saakashvili arrived in Ukraine on September 10. His supporters gathered at the Shehyni checkpoint and started a fight with border guards in the transit zone, thus helping Saakashvili and a group of other people, including five parliamentarians, illegally cross the border. Eleven Ukrainian National Police officers and five border guards were injured in the incident.

The Lviv region police have opened a criminal investigation on the count of "illegal transportation of people across the state border of Ukraine." Another criminal inquiry was subsequently launched on a count of "resistance to officers of law enforcement agencies performing their duties."

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