Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused incumbent officials of stealing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on Wednesday as a court was hearing his case on counts of squandering nine million lari ($3 million).

"This trial is the most shameful in the thousand-year history of Georgia. I am accused of squandering public funds, not of their embezzlement. Meanwhile, incumbent senior officials have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the budget for selfish needs," Saakashvili said.

He demonstrated photos of the countryside homes of Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission Chairman Davit Narmania, case prosecutor Jarji Tsiklauri, and some other officials in court.

Saakashvili said he was accused of secretly visiting foreign capitals but those trips were important to Georgia. "Indeed, I visited London four times to secretly meet with Lukashenko. It was secret diplomacy, and this is the first time I mention it in public," he said.

In addition, Saakashvili voiced his solidarity with Ukraine and performed the Ukrainian national anthem while holding the Ukrainian state flag in his hands.

Saakashvili, former Georgian president and currently a citizen of Ukraine, secretly arrived in Georgia on September 29 and was detained in Tbilisi on October 1 and put in jail in the city of Rustavi soon afterwards, where he declared a hunger strike. On November 8, he was transferred to the prison infirmary in Tbilisi's Gldani district without the consent of his lawyers and family. On November 20, Saakashvili was transferred to a military hospital in Gori, where he stopped his hunger strike.

Saakashvili has been convicted in Georgia in absentia in several criminal cases and is being treated as a suspect in some others. He has described his detention as unlawful and the charges brought against him as falsified.