About 300 people on hunger strike following announcement of mass protest for Saakashvili’s release
Among the protesters are members of the UNM, including Nika Melia, Giorgi Baramidze, Akaki Minashvili, Giorgi Botkoveli and civil activists. Photo: IPN.
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A total of nine tents have been set out on Kakheti Highway close to the central office of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party with about 300 people on hunger strike, following the announcement of a mass protest demanding ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s release yesterday at a rally in central Tbilisi, news agency IPN reports.
Head of the UNM Nika Melia stated yesterday that more than 300 people are joining the protest, noting that ‘the hunger strike will not end until Saakashvili is released from prison.’
Among the protesters are members of the UNM, including Nika Melia, Giorgi Baramidze, Akaki Minashvili, Giorgi Botkoveli and civil activists.
Baramidze stated that the current ‘difficult situation’ in the country ‘needs to be resolved and demands the greatest responsibility from each participant of the political process.’
Opposition MP Levan Ioseliani from the Citizens party responded to the issue and noted that it is ‘impossible for a person to be released from prison because of someone else’s hunger.’
Hunger is associated with damage to human health and I do not support this action. Hunger [strike] is no longer used in Europe and many other forms of protest have been invented and adopted,” Ioseliani said.
Georgian Dream (GD) party MP Sozar Subari said the UNM’s action is ‘pointless,’ adding that ‘it would be good if they returned to the political process.’
Whether a person is guilty or not and whether he should be punished is not solved by hunger…Saakashvili will serve his sentence. It is a legal process and it has nothing to do with politics,” said Subari.
GD member Beka Davituliani also thinks the protest ‘won’t change anything,’ calling the demand of the protesters ‘utopian.’
Saakashvili, who is currently undergoing treatment in Gori Military Hospital following his hunger strike, says that the Georgian people should 'unite' in order to overcome the political crisis in the country.
The former president was convicted in absentia on two counts of abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison. He faces additional charges including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal, and illegal border crossing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that he is ‘personally involved’ in negotiations with the Georgian authorities regarding ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 and currently is undergoing treatment in Gori Military Hospital following a hunger strike, Ukrainian online media outlet Ukrainska Pravda reports.
Opposition United National Movement (UNM) Head Nika Melia has announced a mass hunger strike demanding imprisoned former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili's release during the UNM rally held in central Tbilisi this evening.
Imprisoned former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili stated on his 54th birthday today in Gori military hospital that he returned to Georgia after eight years of political exile because the country ‘stopped development,’ and that he is ready to die if Georgia ‘is not freed’ from its current leadership.
Georgia's former president Mikheil Saakashvili says that ‘national reconciliation,’ referring to making peace between the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and his United National Movement, ‘is the best outcome for everyone.’
Former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was undergoing treatment in Gori Military Hospital following his 50-hunger-strike since the day of his arrest in Tbilisi on October 1, has been transferred from the hospital back to Rustavi No. 12 prison earlier today, the ex-president’s lawyer Nika Gvaramia reported.
About 200 protesters demanding former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s release from prison have stopped a mass hunger strike announced on December 21, following the former president’s request to do so on January 1.
The largest opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM), has made several staff changes, including the replacement of the party’s political council head Nika Melia with Koba Nakopia, who has been the executive secretary of the UNM since 2019.