Georgians collect over 100,000 signatures for Saakashvili's return home

Some 104,000 people have already registered in the popular movement for the return of former President Mikheil Saakashvili to Georgia, Tako Charkviani, the movement's initiator and chairman of the opposition Law and Justice Party, said, the local bureau of Report informs.

He said that half of them will go to meet Saakashvili at the airport.

According to the party chairman, all diplomats, accredited in the country, as well as the European Union and the OSCE, were appealed over a peaceful return of the ex-president to Georgia, and the document called for the application of Article 6 of the European Convention, which envisages a fair and public hearing, against Saakashvili.

It should be noted that Saakashvili, a citizen of Ukraine since 2015, is currently the head of the Executive Committee of the National Council for Reforms. The politician, who is preparing to return to Georgia after eight years, bought a ticket to Tbilisi for October 2. On the same day, elections to local self-government bodies will be held in the neighboring country.

Saakashvili was sentenced in absentia on a number of charges. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has said that the former head of state will be arrested as soon as he steps into the country.