US calls on Georgian gov’t to ensure Saakashvili’s urgent needs
The US government says that they are closely observing the situation around former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The US government has called on Georgian authorities to take steps to ensure the country’s former president, Mikheil Saakashvili’s, urgent psychological and physical needs, US Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price stated yesterday.
The Department of State also encouraged the Georgian government to treat Saakashvili ‘fairly and with dignity,’ noting that they are ‘closely observing’ the situation around the former president.
Price said that the statements made by the Georgian public defender raise questions on Saakashvili’s conditions in prison.
Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1, a day before Georgian municipal elections.
He claims he returned after eight years in political exile to remove the Georgian Dream government from power.
Day 41 of a hunger strike. #FreeSaakashvili
— Mikheil Saakashvili (@SaakashviliM) November 10, 2021
Saakashvili is a citizen of Ukraine and currently chairs the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council.
He has been on hunger strike for 41 days and was transferred to a prison hospital on Monday to prevent complications in his health.
The former president’s United National Movement party is holding rallies across the country to demand the transportation of Saakashvili to a civil clinic, then his release from prison and annulment of recent municipal election results.
Saakashvili claims that his release from prison will lead to snap parliamentary elections and the ‘final defeat of the Georgian Dream.’
He was convicted in Georgia back in 2018 for abuse of power in absentia and was sentenced to six years in prison.
He has also been charged with several other offences.
A trial in one of the cases involving Saakashvili, the opposition rally dispersal in Tbilisi in 2007 and illegal seizure of property of tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, is scheduled at Tbilisi City Court in the afternoon.