(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
Police fired tear gas to keep order as protesters gathered outside a court in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, where ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili faced his first hearing Monday since returning to the country from exile.
Saakashvili, who ended a seven-week hunger strike this month, denounced the court hearing into charges that he exceeded his authority as president. 'I am not here to take part in this staged performance,” he said.
He was detained Oct. 1 after entering Georgia for the first time since stepping down at the end of his presidency in 2013 and fleeing abroad. The authorities say Saakashvili crossed into Georgia illegally.
The ruling Georgian Dream party founded by Saakashvili's rival, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, accused him of abuse of power shortly after it came into office. Saakashvili says the allegations are politically motivated and he called on the U.S. for help this month, warning that the former Soviet republic was turning away from the pro-Western path he set it on with the 2003 Rose Revolution.
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