Ex-President Saakashvili could become 'wanted' by Interpol

Police around the globe could be on the lookout for former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili if Interpol satisfies the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office’s request to name Saakashvili on its wanted list.

Saakashvili is wanted in Georgia after the Prosecutor’s Office laid several charges against him in connection of abuse of official authority.

It is understood the Chief Prosecutor's Office sent a request to Interpol - the world’s largest international police organisation with 190 member countries - four months ago to issue a red notice in Saakashvili’s name.

An Interpol red notice means the person concerned was wanted by national jurisdictions for prosecution or to serve a sentence based on an arrest warrant or court decision. Interpol’s role is to assist the national police forces in identifying and locating the person of interest, with a view to their arrest and extradition or similar lawful action.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili was today asked why Interpol had not yet responded to Georgia's request.

"You better address the Chief Prosecutor’s Office or  Interpol itself with this question,” Garibashvili replied

"But as I know it is a quite time-consuming procedure. I remember the correspondence [between the Interpol and Georgia] regarding [Georgia’s former Justice Minister Zurab] Adeishvili and today Adeishvili is Interpol-wanted.”

The PM also said he was surprised when he heard about Saakashvili’s possible post in "our friendly country” Ukraine’s government.

"You remember what kind of things [Saakashvili] did in Georgia,” he said, adding the ex-President arrested more than 300,000 people while in office.

"[Former Georgian officials] who are wanted by police, will not be honest and they will not and they cannot do anything good for the Ukrainian people.”

The PM said he believed the appointment of former Georgian officials to high-ranking Ukraine posts would damage the relations between the two countries.