Former Georgian President Saakashvili escorted to prison - Georgian PM

TBILISI. Oct 1 (Interfax) - Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been detained and taken to prison, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said at a press briefing on Friday.

"Our law enforcement agencies conducted amazingly the operation to detain Mikheil Saakashvili. They had tentative information about his movements, starting from Ukraine in the direction of Georgia, and this process was fully under control," Garibashvili said.

Georgian law enforcement agents chose the right time and place for Saakashvili's arrest, "so that obstructing factors would be ruled out," he said.

"At present, the former president is in a penitentiary," Garibashvili said.

On Friday morning, Saakashvili wrote on a social networking website that he had arrived in Georgia. He posted a video alleged to have been recorded in Batumi on social media.

"I greet you from Batumi and call on all of you to vote in the local elections on October 2. We will certainly win and will celebrate our victory," he said.

The Georgian Interior Ministry said earlier that it had no information on Saakashvili's presence in Georgian territory.

At the same time, the Georgian authorities said that they were waiting for Saakashvili in order to escort him to jail. Georgian prosecutors have brought against the former president several criminal charges, including two of which Saakashvili has already been convicted.