Saakashvili: I’ll stop treatment if opposition MPs aren't permitted to see me
Former president Mikheil Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi a day before Georgian municipal elections on October 2. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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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.
If the government will not allow them to visit me starting tomorrow, I will suspend treatment and will take the medications only I took before [being arrested],” Saakashvili posted on Facebook earlier today.
He also said that the medical staff is being ‘terrorised’ not to speak with him and ‘take out my messages to the public.’
Yesterday Saakashvili initiated the creation of a ‘public commission’ which will ensure his release from prison.
He said he is sure that the United National Movement opposition party will be ‘actively engaged in the creation of the commission.’
I expect that other opposition parties and members will be active in this regard which will cause a large involvement of the public. A number of rallies must be held and one large rally in December,” Saakashvili said.
In a letter he also thanked the Georgian public for ‘saving his life,’ proposed for a ‘broad initiative group’ rather than parties to campaign for his release & demanded the right to attend the ‘unjust’ trials#Saakashvili pic.twitter.com/wqfsvhITUr
— Formula NEWS | English (@FormulaGe) November 25, 2021
He stated that he will attend a trial hearing concerning him in Tbilisi City Court on November 29 and urged the public to gather there.
It will be the first opportunity for me to address you (since my arrest),” Saakashvili said.
Saakashvili, who is now a citizen of Ukraine and is holding an official post there, says that he returned after eight years in political exile to remove the Georgian Dream government from power.
He was convicted in absentia in Georgia back in 2018 for abuse of power and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Saakashvili has also been charged with five other offences, including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, abuse of power, illegally crossing the border and illegal rally dispersal.
He has been on hunger strike since his arrest in Tbilisi on October 1.
Saakashvili suspended his hunger strike last week as he accepted the transfer to Gori military hospital.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze says that former president Mikheil Saakashvili may be brought to court to attend trial hearings in his own cases, as Saakashvili has called off his 50-day hunger strike and is now receiving medical care in Gori military hospital. Bregadze has told Imedi TV that Saakashvili was refused attendance at three trial hearings in cases concerning him because of ‘security threats and taking Saakshvili’s health while on hunger strike into account.’
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.
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.
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.
Lawyers of former president Mikheil Saakashvili have called on the government to ensure Saakashvili’s presence at a trial hearing in a case concerning him on Monday despite the opposition’s plans to hold a rally at Tbilisi City Court.