Georgia court frees opposition leader from illegal detention

A court in ex-Soviet Georgia on Thursday ordered a top opposition leader detained on graft charges to be released from jail after his 14-month pre-trial detention was declared unconstitutional.

Applause broke out as former Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava -- an ally of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili -- walked out of court a free man following the judge's announcement, cheered by hundreds of supporters.

Ugulava had been held since July 2014 on accusations of misspending state funds, charges he rejected as trumped-up and politically motivated.

The judge ordered his release a day after Georgia's Constitutional Court ruled that his time behind bars breached the legal nine-month limit for pre-trial detention and said the authorities were breaking the law by keeping him locked up.

His lawyer however said he feared Ugulava would be quickly re-arrested.

"The authorities and judges act in collusion and Gigi Ugulava's fresh imprisonment seems imminent," his lawyer, Beka Basilaia, told AFP.

"Ruling coalition leaders have already publicly announced that my client will soon be convicted and jailed," he said.

Ugulava, 40, is one of over a dozen former top officials prosecuted after his fiercely pro-Western United National Movement (UNM) party lost legislative elections to the current ruling Georgian Dream coalition in 2012.

Upon leaving the court building in the capital Tbilisi, Ugulava made an emotional statement to his supporters, vowing to defeat the Georgian Dream in 2016 parliamentary elections.

"They have billions in their hands, they have power in their hands, but they will have a defeat in their hands too," he said. "Our victory and the victory of all the pro-European forces is inevitable."

Ugulava -- who still faces several ongoing trials on corruption charges -- accused Georgia's former premier Bidzina Ivanishvili of orchestrating his prosecution.

He said the billionaire tycoon who assembled the Georgian Dream coalition "will have to pay a political price" should he be arrested again.

Ivanishvili stepped down in 2013 and chose his protege Irakli Garibashvili to take over as premier, but it is widely believed that the tycoon continues to wield power behind the scenes over the tiny Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people.

Arrests of former top Saakashvili officials for alleged wrongdoing prompted warnings from the West over selective justice and the perceived persecution of political opponents.

During his tenure as the mayor of Tbilisi, charismatic Ugulava led major infrastructure projects and social reforms which saw a dramatic improvement in living standards in the Georgian capital.

Source: AFP