TBILISI, March 17, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Georgian court on Monday sentenced ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili to four and a half years behind bars for illegally crossing the border, his lawyer said, in a fresh sentence for the jailed pro-Western politician.

Saakashvili was sentenced to "four years and six months in prison for illegally crossing Georgia's border" when he covertly returned from exile in 2021, lawyer Dito Sadzaglishvili told AFP.