Ukrainian opposition demands Saakashvili's release, Poroshenko be impeached

KIEV, 12 Dec. - (ANA) – Thousands of people have demonstrated in the center of the Ukrainian capital to demand the release of opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili from custody and to call for the impeachment or resignation of President Petro Poroshenko.

The demonstrators gathered at Kyiv's Shevchenko Park on December 10 before marching through central Kiev toward Yanukoych.

The Interior Ministry said that about 2,500 people took part in the rally, in which participants also called for Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko to resign.


Saakashvili supporters also gathered outside the detention center in Kyiv where the leader of the Movement of New Forces party is being held.

The former Georgian president was detained by Ukrainian authorities on December 8 for allegedly abetting an alleged "criminal group" led by Yanukoych, who was pushed from power in 2014 and fled to Russia.

Ukrainian officials also suggested that Saakashvili's protests are part of a Russian plot against Ukraine.

Saakashvili dismisses the claims.

The opposition leader became governor of Ukraine's Odesa region in 2015 but quit a year later and is now a vocal opponent of Poroshenko.

Authorities arrested him in the Ukrainian capital late on December 8, prompting hundreds of his supporters to demonstrate for his release.

Associates of Saakashvili told RFE/RL that he was arrested at a friend's apartment. Close ally and fellow Georgian David Sakvarelidze said the agents were from the state security agency SBU.

Saakashvili's lawyer and supporters said on December 9 that the opposition leader declared a hunger strike to protest his arrest.

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor-General's Office said prosecutors would ask a court to place Saakashvili under house arrest with electronic monitoring pending trial.

Saakashvili "has to answer to investigators and to society regarding the accusations against him," Poroshenko said on December 8 during a visit to Lithuania. "If he doesn't answer, it only means that these accusations are well-founded."

Saakashvili's arrest came three days after law-enforcement officers searched his apartment in Kyiv on December 5, dragged him off the roof, and bundled him into a car. But supporters blocked the streets and pulled him from the vehicle, and he led a march to parliament.

On December 6, police raided a protest tent camp near parliament, but a 24-hour deadline for Saakashvili to turn himself in passed without visible action by the authorities.

A week ago, on December 3, Saakashvili's Movement of New Forces party organized a rally in Kyiv calling for Poroshenko's impeachment and for legislation that would allow it to take place.  - (ANA) -

AB/ANA/ 12 December 21017 - - -