ECHR has rejected Saakashvili’s request for transfer to Poland for treatment - Georgian Justice Minister
Bregadze said the ECHR ruling, published today, had neither accepted the request for transfer abroad nor instructed the Georgian authorities to move the former official to another treatment facility within the country, stressing the decision had confirmed the Government’s actions in his treatment in detention had been “correct and in accordance with the highest standards of human rights”. Photo via Justice Ministry
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Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Friday said the European Court of Human Rights had rejected the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s request to be transferred to Poland’s capital Warsaw for treatment.
At a press briefing, Bregadze said Saakashvili’s lawyers had sent a request to ECHR on April 11 asking for support in requesting postponement of the rest of the former President’s sentence on health grounds and his transfer to Poland for continued medical care.
The Minister said Saakashvili’s lawyers had subsequently also appealed to the ECHR against the ruling by Tbilisi Court of Appeals in March, which in turn upheld the earlier verdict of Tbilisi City Court denying Saakashvili release or postponement of the rest of his sentence on health grounds.
Bregadze said the ECHR ruling, published today, had neither accepted the request for transfer abroad nor instructed the Georgian authorities to move the former official to another treatment facility within the country, stressing the decision had confirmed the Government’s actions in his treatment in detention had been “correct and in accordance with the highest standards of human rights”.
He also said Saakashvili, who has been undergoing treatment at the Vivamedi civilian clinic in Tbilisi since May 2022, could be transferred back to a penitentiary facility in case of an “appropriate decision” by the doctors involved in his treatment.
Saakashvili, who has Ukrainian citizenship and held a public post in the country, was arrested on return to Georgia in October 2021 and is serving a six-year term for abuse of power in a case he had been convicted on. He has three other cases against him pending.
Malkhaz Urtkmelidze, the head of the medical department of the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia, on Tuesday said the country’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili had not yet submitted any complete request to involve the Polish doctors in his treatment.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Monday said neither the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili nor his family and legal team had requested involvement of foreign medical professionals in his treatment following an offer by the Georgian authorities.
The Special Penitentiary Service will not go against the involvement of foreign doctors in the medical care of the convicted former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, the Justice Ministry said on Thursday.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Tuesday rejected the accusations of torture and inhuman treatment of imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili as “not supported by evidence”, stressing these allegations were “a part of the political agenda”.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, on Friday, said the European Court of Human Rights ruling, rejecting the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s request to be transferred to Poland for treatment, confirmed that the Government’s action towards him “was appropriate and in accordance with the highest human rights standards”.
Thea Tsulukiani, the Vice Prime Minister of Georgia, on Saturday, “once again” called on the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to stop “self-harm” and restore “food intake”, based on the European Court of Human Rights ruling, which rejected his request to be transferred to Poland for treatment.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Saturday said "generally", some members of the European Parliament, the former Public Defender and various opposition parties had to apologise to the Government, after the European Court of Human Rights confirmed that Georgian authorities “have acted in accordance with the human rights standards” regarding the former President Saakashvili’s treatment in custody.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Thursday, after the meeting with the representatives of the diplomatic corps in the country, said “there were not any questions” concerning the European Court of Human Rights ruling, which had rejected the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s request to be transferred to Poland for treatment.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday said the European Court of Human Rights' rejection of the country’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s request on his transfer abroad on health grounds had “put an end to a slanderous campaign” against his Government.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Monday urged the United States Department of State to lift the visa restrictions it imposed on three acting and one former Georgian judges for “significant corruption” in April “as soon as possible”, due to an “absence of evidence” against them.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday slammed the country’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili and the “destructive part” of the domestic opposition for “dirty, anti-state campaign” over his conditions in custody, and also accused the former Defence Minister David Kezerashvili of “unprecedented robbery of European pensioners”, which he said had seen “one billion dollars” defrauded from its victims in a scheme allegedly involving the wanted former official.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said those who called for the release of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili on health grounds while knowing he was “faking his health condition” “must apologise to the Georgian public”.
The imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili “decided to stop speculations and simulations with his health and admit he is feeling good” after the European Court of Human Rights in May rejected his request for seeing the Georgian Government be ordered to facilitate his transfer abroad on health grounds, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Wednesday.
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The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday rejected as “inadmissible” complaints brought by the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili against Ukraine on alleged mistreatment and politically motivated decisions against him dating back to 2017 and 2018.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said claims by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russia was “killing” Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s imprisoned former President who holds Ukrainian citizenship, “at the hands of the Georgian Government”, were “insulting”.
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Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Tuesday called on imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili and “people who are sincerely concerned with his recovery” to follow doctors’ recommendations, instead of “manipulating” his health.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Monday said actions of a visiting Polish medical professional had caused “misunderstanding and concern” after an alleged attempt of smuggling of a medical sample of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili out of a Tbilisi clinic last week.
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Rati Bregadze, the Georgian Justice Minister, on Monday said the latest report by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment had reflected the cooperation offered to the body by the Tbilisi clinic where the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili is undergoing treatment.