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Saakashvili supporters find his prosecution in Georgia politically motivated

Representatives of the Georgian opposition are demanding that the country's administration stop "political persecution" of the republic's ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.

"A trial of the case involving abuse of office by President Saakashvili, who pardoned four police officers in 2009, is now taking place in the Tbilisi City Court. A president has a constitutional right to pardon a prisoner and this right can only be contested in North Korea. We demand that the political persecution of Saakashvili in Georgia stop," Roman Gotsiridze, a member of an opposition faction of the parliament, said at the parliament session on Wednesday.

The Tbilisi City Court is currently trying two cases against Mikheil Saakashvili: abuse of office by the president in 2009, when he pardoned four police officers convicted of killing bank employee Sandro Girgvliani, and an assault on parliamentarian Valery Gelashvili in 2005.

Saakashvili is also involved in another two cases: a case involving the dispersal of an opposition rally and the takeover of the television company Imedi in 2007 and a case involving embezzlement of state funds.

The Wednesday court hearing is being held amid protests by Saakashvili supporters, who demand that all criminal charges against their leader be dropped.

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