Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner: I’ll notify EU about violations of Saakashvili’s rights
The human rights advocate reported that Saakashvili’s rights have been violated on procedural, medical, and religious grounds. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Lyudmyla Denisova, has said that former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’s rights have been breached on several grounds.
After visiting Saakashvili in Rustavi Prison No.12 earlier today, Denisova reported that Saakashvili’s rights have been violated on procedural, medical, and religious grounds.
The court dismissed the lawyers’ request to bring Ukrainian citizen Saakashvili to court, where he can defend himself. Therefore, the right to a fair public trial has been violated, Denisova said.
The human rights advocate declared that Saakashvili’s health is deteriorating ‘on a daily basis,’ and asked the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia to transfer him to a private hospital rather than a prison clinic.
Denisova noted that Saakashvili’s religious rights have also been infringed upon, as the priests who were admitted to visit him were not those he requested.
After arriving in Ukraine, we will notify the European ambassadors. I will also report my observations to the European parliament, she added.
The human rights advocate further noted that upon her arrival in Georgia, she was stopped for 40 minutes, and only allowed entry after she performed ‘several calls’ and ‘threatened’ them.
Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon also said that he was denied entry to Georgia ‘with no explanations.’ The journalist called the incident an ‘international scandal’ and a ‘shame for Georgian authorities.’
Saakashvili, who is currently a citizen of Ukraine, fled Georgia in 2013, a year after his United National Movement (UNM) party lost parliamentary elections. In 2018, a Georgian court convicted him in absentia on two counts of abuse of power and sentenced him to six years in prison.
The former president was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 after his clandestine return to Georgia.
Saakashvili is currently facing five additional charges, including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal, and illegal border crossing.
Day 27 of a hunger strike. #FreeSaakashvili
— Mikheil Saakashvili (@SaakashviliM) October 27, 2021
The former president denies all charges, considers himself a political prisoner, and has been on a hunger strike since his arrest.
The UNM opposition party has called on the international community, accredited diplomatic corps, and international and local NGOs to ensure Saakashvilis ‘right to life’ and ‘personal safety.’
Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Lyudmyla Denisova, is currently visiting former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili in Rustavi Prison No.12. Denisova says that she's come to Georgia to find out whether Saakashvili’s human rights are being protected.
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.
The United National Movement (UNM) opposition party has called on the international community and NGOs to ‘take all measures’ to protect former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on hunger strike for 26 days. The UNM chairman Nika Melia said yesterday that Saakashvili needs to be brought to a multi-profile civil clinic and not to a prison hospital as the Georgian Dream government officials had offered.
Georgian former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 after eight years in political exile, has demanded the Georgian Dream (GD) government take him to court, where he will provide ‘all true information’ about him both for the international community and the Georgian people.
The opposition United National Movement (UNM) is holding a rally in the western Georgian town of Zugdidi demanding to release Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili. UNM mayoral candidate in Zugdidi Anzor Melia, who is the father of UNM chair Nika Melia said in his address to the party supporters that he is happy to be running for Zugdidi mayor.
The ECR Group in the European Parliament is ‘deeply concerned about the worsening health condition’ of the third president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who was arrested on October 1. Earlier today Saakashvii announced his refusal to ‘all hunger-related treatment’, including tests, services and inspections of the emergency crew.
The Georgian Special Penitentiary Service says that they have been forced to erect a new glass wall in a room where former president Mikheil Saakashvili was meeting with his lawyers, as ‘both Saakashvili and his lawyers were constantly violating coronavirus guidelines.’