Georgia’s Prosecutor-General’s Office has launched a criminal case against former President Mikheil Saakashvili and seven opposition leaders, according to the Interpress news agency.

A court in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi on Monday gave former President Mikheil Saakashvili an additional four-and-a-half year sentence in prison, almost a week after he was given a nine-year sentence for embezzling public funds.

The Tbilisi City Court has sentenced Georgia's third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, to nine years in prison for embezzling budgetary funds.