Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have discussed the issue of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is a citizen of Ukraine, during a recent phone conversation.
Zelensky tweeted that he told Garibashvili that Saakashvili’s rights ‘must be fully protected’ in accordance with international standards and that the relatives of the former president and Ukrainian doctors should be allowed to see the former president in Gldani Prison No.18 hospital.
In a phone conversation with @GharibashviliGe, I stressed that the rights of ???????? citizen @SaakashviliM must be fully guaranteed in accordance with international norms. Applied for admission of Mikheil Saakashvili's mother, relatives, and Ukrainian doctors to him.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 12, 2021
The Administration of the Government of Georgia cited Garibashvili as saying that Saakashvili's health, like all prisoners in Georgia, is being monitored by highly-qualified doctors round the clock.
Garibashvili also said that lawyers and family members have never been barred from seeing the former president in prison.
Saakashvili has had more than 100 visitors since his arrest (in Tbilisi on October 1),” Garibashvili told Zelensky.
He also told the Ukrainian president that Saakashvili verbally and physically abused prison and medical staff during his transfer from Rustavi prison to Gldani prison hospital on Monday, and the prison administration acted in accordance with the law to bring Saakashvili to the prison hospital to prevent complications in his health.
Garibashvili said that Saakashvili’s actions are ‘provocative’ and ‘aim to cause unrest’ in Georgia.
Prime Minister of Georgia Holds a Phone Conversation with President of Ukrainehttps://t.co/4O7I4OTMNo
— Georgian Government (@GovernmentGeo) November 12, 2021
Citizens of Ukraine have no legitimate right to intervene in the domestic affairs of Georgia,” Garibashvili told Zelensky, noting that Saakashvili illegally entered Georgia from Ukraine at the end of September after eight years in political exile.
Garibashvili also said there is no need for Ukrainian doctors to concern themselves with Saakashvili’s health, as the former president ‘has been supervised by professional and highly-qualified Georgian doctors’ since the day one of his hunger strike on October 1.
The Georgian Special Penitentiary Service released two videos of Saakashvili yesterday showing his transfer to Gldani Prison No.18 hospital on Monday, on the 39th day of Saakashvili’s hunger strike.
Ukrainian media outlets cited deputy FM of Ukraine Mykola Tochicki as saying yesterday that the Georgian government should treat Saakashvili with dignity.
Saakashvili’s Ukrainian lawyer Yevgeny Grushovets also stated that Georgian inmates ‘are not treated in Ukrainian prisons the way Saakashvili is treated in Georgia.’