Health minister: medical council will assess ex. pres. Saakashvili’s health today

Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze says that a medical council will be held today to assess the health of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili who is currently serving time in prison.

Tikaradze explained that she is not personally involved in the discussion regarding the ex-president’s health, and the medical council is being convened on the request of Saakashvili's personal doctor Nikoloz Kipshidze.

Kipshidze claims that the ex-president’s health condition ‘has significantly worsened in prison due to hunger strike.’ 

He stated last week 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.

• PM Garibashvili: Saakashvili ‘staging a show’ with hunger strike, eating half a kilo honey

Saakashvili, who is serving time in Rustavi penitentiary establishment No.12, has been on a hunger strike since his arrest on October 1.

• Georgian patriarch asks Saakashvili to stop hunger strike

Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria, who has been monitoring Saakashvili’s health and living conditions in prison, has found ‘no violations of his rights’ so far.

The former president of Georgia, who is currently a citizen of Ukraine, was charged with the abuse of authority in absentia back in 2018 and sentenced to six years in prison.

Furthermore, Saakashvili has been charged with four additional cases related to illegal takeover of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal and illegally crossing of the border.