Rustavi (Georgia), Oct 4 (AP)Hundreds of demonstrators rallied Monday outside a prison where former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been held since his arrest after returning to the country last week.

Saakashvili, who left Georgia in 2014 and became a Ukrainian citizen, was later sentenced to up to six years in prison on abuse of power convictions handed down in absentia.

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He came back to the country with the aim of galvanizing opposition as Georgia held nationwide municipal elections, and was arrested hours after posting videos Friday on social media announcing that he was back.

The United National Movement, which Saakashvili founded, is the most prominent political force opposing the governing Georgian Dream party.

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Georgian Dream won 47 per cent of the vote in the weekend municipal elections, well ahead of the 31 per cent received by UNM.

“While Mikheil Saakashvili is in prison, each of us is a prisoner,” UNM chairman Nika Melia said at Monday's protest in Rustavi, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of the capital Tbilisi. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)