
Saakashvili’s Grand Return to Georgia May Have Backfired
TBILISI—On a chilly mid-November evening in Tbilisi, the scene outside of Georgia’s Parliament looked like a bit like rock concert: Huge speakers stood tall on either side of a broad stage; camera crews were lined up and ready to shoot; and spotlights glared out over the thousands of people massing on Rustaveli Avenue. The chants, though, were not for a rock star, but for “Misha”—that is, former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who despite living in exile for eight years, was evidently still able to draw a crowd.
Saakashvili had returned to Georgia on Oct. 1 and was immediately detained by Georgian authorities to serve out a sentence for a 2018 conviction for abuse of power in office. The former president quickly launched a hunger strike to protest his detention, which he called “illegal.” ...