The new sentence, handed down by the Tbilisi City Court in the Georgian capital, means that Saakashvili, 57, will likely remain incarcerated until 2030. Wednesday's ruling also ordered Teimuraz Janashia, the former head of the State Security Service, to pay a fine of 300,000 Georgian lari (about $108,000).

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been sentenced to an additional nine years in prison for an alleged large-scale embezzlement of state funds, the Tbilisi City Court ruled, as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Georgian service reported on March 12.

A court in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, sentenced former president Mikheil Saakashvili to nine years in prison after being convicted of embezzling millions of dollars of public funds to cover personal expenses.

Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been imprisoned since 2021, was sentenced on Wednesday to nine more years in jail after being found guilty of embezzlement. Saakashvili, in office from 2004 to 2013,

Mikheil Saakashvili, who is already serving a six-year prison sentence, was accused of embezzling $3.3 million in government funds for luxury spending.