Leader of the Droa opposition party Elene Khoshtaria fainted earlier today in parliament, likely due to the hunger strike she announced six days ago demanding former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’s transfer from prison to a private hospital.
Saakashvili, who was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 after a clandestine return from eight years in political exile, considers himself a ‘political prisoner’ and claims to be on a hunger strike.
Paramedics recommended hospitalisation for Khoshtaria, which she rejected.
A doctor at the scene said that Koshtaria’s fainting was supposedly caused by low blood pressure.
Although Khoshtaria went on a hunger strike in solidarity with Saakashvili, she claims that she is ‘strongly against’ the former president returning to power.
Following a meeting with the Parliament Speaker Kakha Kuchava on November 5, Khoshtaria said that if the government did not react to her demands, she would consider ‘amplifying her protest.’
Saakashvili, who is currently a citizen of Ukraine, was convicted by a Georgian court in absentia in 2018 on two counts of abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison.
The former president is now facing five additional charges, including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal, and illegal border crossing.