PM Garibashvili: Saakashvili ‘staging a show’ with hunger strike, eating half a kilo honey
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that the health condition of Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili in Rustavi prison No.12 is satisfactory and that he is receiving all necessary services there, like other inmates.
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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that the country’s recently detained ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili is staging a show with his hunger strike to spark tension ahead of municipal election runoffs on October 30.
Garibashvili says that individuals on hunger strike ‘never request seven cans of honey and several litres of natural juices.’
Very experienced and qualified doctors are monitoring Saakashvili’s health in Rustavi prison No.12. His health condition is satisfactory,” Garibashvili said, noting that ‘it is time for Saakashvili and his United National Movement (UNM) opposition party to stop misleading the public.’
He said that Saakashvili, who was convicted in Georgia back in 2018 for abuse of authority and sentenced to six years in prison in absentia, illegally crossed into Georgia ahead of the recent October 2 municipal elections in Georgia ‘to spark tension and was detained by Georgian law enforcers without much noise or any complications’.
Saakashvili has been in political exile for eight years. He said he returned ahead of the October 2 municipal elections to help his UNM party to change the current Georgian Dream government via snap parliamentary elections.
Saakashvili went on hunger strike the same day he was detained in Tbilisi on October 1, stating that he has no plans to suspend it ‘as forms of expressing protest are limited in prison.’
He claims that all charges against him ‘are invented’ and that he is a personal prisoner of Russian President Vladimir Putin and ‘his subordinate’ Georgian Dream government.
The Georgian Special Penitentiary Service confirmed on Friday that Saakashvili requested honey and natural juices and received them.
The agency reiterated today that recent reports by opposition-minded TV channels, that Saakashvili’s health has worsened in prison due to hunger strike, are false.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze stated today that the prison administration and its ‘very qualified staff and doctors’ take care of inmates round the clock, Saakashvili among them.
He stated that if Saakashvili’s health really worsens, doctors will make recommendations and the prison administration ‘will take all necessary steps.’
"We have to take him to the hospital… if it continues like this, the president will no longer be alive" | Nikoloz Kipshidze
— Mtavari TV (@MtavariChannel) October 10, 2021
More: https://t.co/EUmSgZjcNA pic.twitter.com/adL566zWZ8
Saakashvili’s doctor Nikoloz Kipshidze told the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi on the weekend that the ex-president’s health condition ‘has significantly worsened in prison due to hunger strike.’
He said that Saakashvili has thalassaemia, an inherited blood disorder in which the body makes an abnormal form of haemoglobin, and that hunger is never allowed for such patients.
Saakashvili himself called on supporters earlier today to ‘fully focus on municipal election runoffs rather than to mourn me beforehand.’
He and the UNM also announced a ‘large-rally’ in central Tbilisi on October 14.
Mother Giuli Alasania, and sons, Eduard and Nikoloz visited him in prison earlier today, stating that Saakashvili ‘seemed not as healthy as before.’
Georgian Patriarch Ilia II has requested the country’s third president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is currently serving a prison term in Rustavi Prison No.12, to suspend hunger strike ‘which is not a Christian way of behaviour.’
Georgian former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was detained in Tbilisi on October 1 ahead of municipal elections in the country says he is ‘deeply touched’ by the support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1, has called for a ‘high-level of mobilisation and a more powerful attack’ for the mayoral election runoffs in 20 of 64 election constituencies on October 30.
Georgia’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili has been detained today, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has announced. "Our law enforcement agencies had prior information about his (Saakashvili’s) movement from Ukraine to Georgia and the process was under the control” Garibashvili stated.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria says that the country’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili is receiving ‘proper attention’ in Rustavi Prison No.12 and that ‘no violations of his rights’ have been reported so far by her representatives in terms of Saakashvili’s living conditions.
The Lelo and European Georgia opposition parties have refused to join a rally planned by the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party in central Tbilisi tomorrow, where demonstrators intend to demand the release of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili from prison.
A number of people in western Georgian cities are standing along the highway with brooms to protest the United National Movement (UNM) rally in Tbilisi later today, where demonstrators will demand the release of former president Mikheil Saakashvili from prison.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili commented on the rally of the United National Movement (UNM) later today, saying that ‘what Georgia needs now is peace and concentration on the issues which are crucial to the country’s further development.’ The UNM is holding a rally in central Tbilisi at 6 p.m. today to demand the release of former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili from prison.
Three individuals demanding Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s release have been detained, protesters report. Civil activists supporting Saakashvili have gathered close to the house and business centre of former ruling party chair Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Opposition MP Salome Samadashvili says former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili should be given the right to appeal the verdict against him as he didn’t attend court hearings.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has denounced the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party, saying ‘the evil force, which is behind multiple crimes, must end as an organisation and as a party.’ He stated that former president Mikheil Saakashvili will have to serve his six-year term and accused him once again of ‘misleading and cheating the public.’
Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on hunger strike since his arrest in Tbilisi on October 1, says that he is ready to take medicines to ‘maintain the strength to think and act’, but vows that he will not suspend his hunger strike.
Police have arrested one more individual in connection with the illegal crossing of the national border by former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says the country’s currently arrested former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, ‘is trying to imitate Adolf Hitler, but he is a fake Hitler.’
Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’s Ukrainian lawyer Evgen Grushovets claims he was denied entry to Georgia. The lawyer says that he was stopped at Tbilisi International Airport and sent back to Ukraine without any explanation.
Georgian Patriarch Ilia II, who is the most trusted figure in the country according to public polls, has for the second time requested the country’s former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, to suspend his hunger strike.
The Penitentiary Service of Georgia has denied speculation that an ambulance was called to Rustavi Prison No.12 due to an alleged deterioration in the health of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili. The penitentiary service said that the ambulance was called to administer vaccinations to prisoners in Prison No.16, which is adjacent to the Prison No.12.
The Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia stated earlier today that former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili will temporarily stay in Gori Military Hospital.