“The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office has come to the conclusion there is a risk that the request of extraditing Saakashvili made by the competent organs of Georgia is politically motivated,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said.
Saakashvili is currently the chairman of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s International Advisory Council on Reforms.
“In such conditions the General Prosecutor’s Office as Ukraine’s central organ on issues of extradition has made the decision to deny the extradition [request] of M. Saakashvili and has informed its Georgian colleagues,” the statement reads.
Saakashvili served as Georgia's president from 2004 to 2013, his rule criticized as authoritarian. He was barred from running for president again in 2013, and left for the United States.
In February, Ukrainian President Poroshenko signed a decree to appoint Saakashvili as his non-staff aide.
