NGOs urge Georgian government to transfer Saakashvili to ‘alternative medical facility’

Civil organisations have called on the government of Georgia to transfer the former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili from Gldani Prison No.18 hospital to an ‘alternative medical institution.

In a joint statement, seven organisations maintain that Saakashvili’s transfer to a prison hospital posed the risk of ‘escalating the political situation’ in the country, and the ‘full responsibility’ for the events rests with the government.

We call on the government to take all the steps necessary to de-escalate the situation. Among them, it is vital that the third President of Georgia would be immediately transferred to an alternative medical institution, where his dignity, life, health, and safety could be adequately ensured, they wrote.

The signatory organisations are:

Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI)

Transparency International -  Georgia (TI)

Open Society Foundation, OSGF

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)

The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI)

Rights Georgia

Partnership for Human Rights (PHR)

• Justice minister claims Saakashvili physically insulted prison staff following his transfer

Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 after a clandestine return from eight years in political exile. He considers himself a ‘political prisoner’ and claims to be on a hunger strike.

The former president, who was serving his sentence in Rustavi Prison No.12, was transferred to Gldani prison hospital last evening to ‘prevent deterioration in his health due to increased risks,' the penitentiary service reported.

In a letter released from prison hospital, Saakashvili claimed that the purpose of his transfer was his physical destruction under Russian president Vladimir Putin’s order.