Chairman of the Committee on European Integration of the Parliament responds to the verdict of the Tbilisi City Court, which sentenced Mikheil Saakashvili to 9 years in prison on charges of embezzling state funds.

“If you listen to the opposition, they claim everything is political persecution. But the fact remains - today, the court has once again confirmed that the person who once came to power under the banner of fighting corruption ended up misusing public funds.

We saw GEL 9 million of public money being wasted - this is an embezzlement. The court confirmed that these funds were spent on matters that had nothing to do with governance or public service.

The money was directly used for personal luxuries, including weight loss treatments and hair care. The public saw the evidence, the court hearings were open, all the details were revealed. I would call this case nothing less than the theft of public funds”, - said Levan Makhashvili.