Georgian authorities preparing to rig parliamentary elections - Saakashvili

TBILISI. July 29 (Interfax) - The ruling Georgian Dream party is preparing to rig the upcoming parliamentary elections in October, but the opposition will not allow this, former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said.

"They [Georgian Dream] are preparing to rig the elections in order to hold on to power and money, but we will not allow this. We are not preparing for a revolution, we will all go to the elections, and if the authorities announce the results of the rigged elections, hundreds of thousands of people will defend their votes in the streets," Saakashvili said via video link from a hospital during another ongoing trial against him on Monday.

As for the election, the opposition forces "will accept no result except the complete victory of the Georgian people," he said.

Saakashvili secretly arrived in Georgia on September 29, 2021. He was detained in Tbilisi on October 1 and then put in jail in the city of Rustavi, where he went on a hunger strike. On November 8, Saakashvili was transferred to a prison hospital in Tbilisi's Gldani district without the consent of his relatives or lawyers. He was taken to a military hospital in the town of Gori on November 20. On May 12, 2022, Saakashvili was moved to the Vivamed hospital, where he is currently staying.

Several criminal cases were opened against Saakashvili in Georgia. He called his detention unlawful and the charges brought against him falsified.