Georgian opposition leader Gigi Ugulava was sentenced on Monday to 38 months in jail on charges of misusing public funds while mayor of Tbilisi, his second conviction on similar charges, in a case the opposition says is politically motivated, Trend reports citing Reuters.
Several criminal cases have been opened against opposition leaders amid mass protests against the government and Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ruling Georgian Dream party that began last summer, and several arrests have been made.
Ugulava was first imprisoned for a similar offense in September 2015, for four-and-a-half years, but was freed in January 2017 after his sentence was reduced.
A year later, Ugulava, mayor of Tbilisi from 2005-2013 and now one of Georgia’s most active opposition leaders, was sentenced again, to 15 months in prison, in the same case, but his sentence was considered to have been served.
Monday’s Supreme Court verdict is for a new case of alleged misuse of funds, and the jail time he has already served will not count against it.