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.
Tbilisi City Court has denied the accusations of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’s legal team that the court restricted the ex-president’s right to protection by banning his two lawyers from attending the trial on November 10.
The imprisoned former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who claims to be on a hunger strike, has released a letter from Gldani prison hospital, saying that he will stop the hunger strike if he is taken to a multifunctional civil clinic for rehabilitation. Saakashvili said that he decided to call off his hunger strike after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) urged him to do so.
The Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia has released a video which shows the transfer of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili from Rustavi prison to the Gldani Prison No.18 hospital on Monday, to prevent complications to his health on the 39th day of hunger strike.
The European Court of Human Rights has rejected a complaint by former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili on his transfer to a private clinic from a prison hospital, and instead urged him to call off his hunger strike, the Georgian Ministry of Justice said yesterday and released an interim judgement of the court.The court demanded from the Georgian government to inform them about Saakashvili’s state of health and ensure proper medical care for him now and in the post-hunger-strike period.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili says that the third president Mikheil Saakashvili is serving his term in a Georgian prison ‘based on the rule of law.’ However, she noted that the former president is not an ordinary prisoner and that his imprisonment and hunger strike is ‘under close observation’ by the international community.