Ex-pres. Saakashvili agrees to be transferred to Gori military hospital, to stop hunger strike
Saakashvili, who is serving a sentence for abuse of power, considers himself a political prisoner and has been on hunger strike since the day he was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Tweet 
Share
The former president Mikheil Saakashvili has accepted the Georgian government’s offer to be transferred to Gori military hospital and is ready to stop the 50-day hunger strike after the admittance to the clinic, ex-president’s lawyer Nika Gvaramia announces.
Gvaramia stated that Saakashvili will be transferred later today without specifying the exact time ‘due to security measures.’
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze has offered to the former president to undergo treatment in the military hospital in Gori earlier today, noting that his life and health will be ‘maximally ensured’ by the government.
Gori military hospital. Photo: RFE/RL.
Gvaramia also emphasised the importance of setting medical agenda with their involvement.
It is important for us to know for sure that everything is going normally there. The so-called refeeding protocol should be written by specialists and be daily reported,” Gvaramia said.
- President Zurabishvili welcomes Georgian gov’t decision to transfer Saakashvili to military hospital
The military hospital in Gori is ready to treat Saakashvili as it is ‘fully equipped,’ Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze reported earlier today and underscored that MRT medical device is functioning, noting its ‘software update is underway.’
She underlined that the ex-president will be able to receive all required services on the spot.
The hospital is technically maintained, the software is being updated and the patient will be provided with all the services he will need,” Tikaradze said.
‘An intensive ward has been set up for Saakashvili where he will undergo treatment,’ she added.
The Defence Ministry of Georgia has published a video of the facility.
It reported that Gori military hospital is a multipurpose clinic where ‘24-hour emergency and scheduled medical care is available.’
The military hospital is staffed with highly qualified doctors of various profiles and is equipped with the latest medical equipment,” the ministry says.
Saakashvili, who is serving a sentence for abuse of power, considers himself a political prisoner and has been on hunger strike since the day he was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1.
The opposition, NGOs and international community actively called on the Georgian government to admit Saakashvili into the civil hospital and to ensure proper medical care for him.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has welcomed the decision of the Georgian government to admit former president of the country Mikheil Saakashvili to Gori military hospital, stating that the clinic ‘meets all medical and safety standards.
The opposition United National Movement (UNM) party is holding a rally in central Tbilisi in front of the parliament building waiting for ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s decision whether or not he will agree to be transferred to Gori military hospital as the Georgian government offered earlier.
The Georgian Justice Ministry has offered former president Mikheil Saakashvili a transfer to Gori military hospital in central Georgia, on the 50th day of his hunger strike. Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia who was convicted in absentia for abuse of power in 2018, says he returned after eight years in political exile to remove the Georgian Dream government from power.
The US Department of State has urged the Georgian government to treat former president Mikheil Saakashvili who was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1, ‘fairly and with dignity.’ In a statement released yesterday, the Department of State also ‘strongly urged’ the Georgian government to ensure Saakashvili’s presence at all court hearings for his pending criminal cases, in accordance with the law.
The imprisoned former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili's personal doctor Nikoloz Kipshidze has said that the ex-president who was transferred from a prison clinic to a military hospital last night is in 'severe' condition.
US senators Jim Risch, Jeanne Shaheen, Ron Johnson, and Ben Cardin have said that the former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili who is currently serving a prison sentence, 'deserves to be treated fairly and with dignity, in accordance with international standards and Georgian law.'
The Lelo – Partnership for Georgia faction has stopped its boycott of parliament and agreed to attend plenary sessions as arrested former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili was brought to a civil clinic to receive proper medical care after his 50-day hunger strike.
Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’s personal doctor Nika Kipshidze says that the ex-president has post-traumatic stress disorder following a 50-day hunger strike, and thus requires the attention of mental health professionals.
The United National Movement (UNM) opposition party and its supporters will make a human chain in central Tbilisi tomorrow to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the Rose Revolution, a peaceful coup by third president Mikheil Saakashvili and its UNM party back in 2003.
Georgian public advocate Nino Lomjaria says that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued an interim measure on November 19 in which the court demanded the Georgian government provide ‘adequate medical care’ for former president Mikheil Saakashvili, in accordance with ‘changed medical circumstances’ revealed by the medical panel invited by Lomjaria on its November 17 conclusion.
Opposition United National Movement (UNM) members and supporters have formed a human chain in central Tbilisi earlier today to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the Rose Revolution, a change of power in Georgia following mass protests led by the currently imprisoned UNM founder Mikheil Saakashvili in 2003.
Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who is now receiving medical care in Gori military hospital after a 50-day hunger strike, claims that opposition MPs have been banned from seeing him for more than a week.
Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili has already been taken to Tbilisi City Court to attend a trial hearing concerning the illegal dispersal of an opposition rally in central Tbilisi on November 7, 2007 in which Saakashvili is charged with the abuse of power, IPN says. Neither journalists, nor opposition activists are allowed into the court’s yard. The law enforcement are present at the scene to ensure safety.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan has expressed the hope that former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s supporters ‘will act responsibly’ during his trial, urging that the protest should be peaceful.
Georgia’s State Inspector’s Office, which studies alleged offences committed by law enforcement agencies and officers, has fined the country’s Justice Ministry and the Special Penitentiary Service 2,000 GEL for the release of videos of former president Mikheil Saakashvili in prison.
Georgian Dream party MP Guram Macharashvili says the government has no plans to send former president Mikheil Saakashvili ‘to a foreign resort’ to receive treatment weeks after his 50-day hunger strike.
A group of medical experts invited by Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has examined imprisoned former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili's health, refuting allegations that Saakashvili is being abused with pharmaceuticals.