Georgia on Friday arrested ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who returned from exile ahead of local elections in the Caucasus country gripped by a protracted political crisis, the prime minister said.
"Georgia's third president Mikheil Saakashvili has been arrested today and sent to jail," Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili told a news conference.
Earlier on Friday, he wrote: "Good morning. I am back in Georgia after eight years."
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In video messages on Facebook, Saakashvili announced that he had returned to Georgia and was in the western city of Batumi.
"I risked my life and freedom to be back," Saakashvili said, adding that he was in Georgia's western city of Batumi on the Black Sea coast.
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"I call on everyone to go to the elections and vote for the United National Movement," he said, referring to Georgia's main opposition party which he founded.
Prior to his arrest, Saakashvili lived in Ukraine where he headed a government agency steering reforms.
The 53-year-old flamboyant pro-Western reformer was Georgian president from 2004 to 2013 and swept to power in a wave of street protests.
He left Georgia in 2013 when his second and last term as president ended. He is wanted by Georgian authorities on abuse of office charges which he says are politically motivated.
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