Ex-PM Kvirikashvili: degrading video of Saakashvili’s transfer is insult to every Georgian
The ex-PM also discussed Saakashvili’s political legacy, calling it ‘the heaviest for our country’ by underscoring the results of Russian occupation. Photo: Giorgi Kvirikashvili/Facebook/Archive.
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Former Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has stated that the video footage of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili's transfer to a prison hospital is an ‘insult to every Georgian and is detrimental to both the country and the government.’
In his Facebook post, Kvirikashvili also said the former president should be provided with the medical care required by his physicians.
First of all, this is a matter of the dignity of the Georgian Dream [ruling party] government and then of the country,” Kvirikashvili said.
The opposition, the ex-president’s physician, and NGOs are all demanding Saakashvili’s transfer to a multi-purpose civil hospital for ‘ensuring proper medical care,’ as reportedly he has been on hunger strike for 46 days.
Day 44 of a hunger strike. #FreeSaakashvili
— Mikheil Saakashvili (@SaakashviliM) November 13, 2021
Saakashvili said that he will stop the hunger strike if he is brought to a civil clinic for rehabilitation, following a call by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to call off the hunger strike.
The ex-PM also discussed Saakashvili’s political legacy, calling it ‘the heaviest for our country’ by underscoring the results of Russian occupation.
Kvirikashvili noted that under the United National Movement (UNM) government, Russian troops returned to Georgian territory, stating that Saakashvili and his followers ‘have no moral right to be in politics.’
The 2008 Russian-Georgian war claimed the lives of 170 soldiers of the Georgian Defence Ministry, along with 14 Interior Ministry employees and 224 civilians, with about 30,000 Georgian citizens forced to leave their homes in the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region. Georgia also lost control over Akhalgori municipality after the war in 2008.
Kvirikashvili states that before the law everyone is equal, noting that the criminal charges against Saakashvili which led to the convictions ‘have been confirmed not only by the Georgian judiciary but also by the ECHR in Strasbourg.’
Any talk of his innocence has no real basis,” the Facebook post reads.
Saakashvili was convicted in absentia in 2018 in two cases for abuse of power. Currently, he faces several other criminal charges including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal, and illegal border crossing.