Prosecutor’s office filed a motion in the Tbilisi City Court asking to order pre-trial detention for former president Mikheil Saakashvili in absentia.

Court hearing into prosecution’s motion has been scheduled for Friday evening, according to spokespersons of both prosecutor’s office and the Tbilisi City Court.

Prosecutors charged Saakashvili with “exceeding official powers” in case stemming from dispersal of the November 7, 2007 anti-government protests, as well as raid on and “seizure” of Imedi TV station and other assets owned at the time by tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, who died in February, 2008.

Charges have been filed under part three of article 333 of the criminal code, involving exceeding official powers, committed with use of violence and insult of victim’s dignity, which carries imprisonment from 5 to 8 years as punishment.

Saakashvili, who left Georgia upon expiration of his second and final presidential term in November 2013, dismissed charges against him as politically motivated.

Charges have also been filed in the same case against Vano Merabishvili, who was interior minister in 2007; then chief prosecutor Zurab Adeishvili; then defense minister Davit Kezerashvili and Gigi Ugulava, who at the time was Tbilisi mayor.