Opposition MP: former President Saakashvili “not a political prisoner”
The Citizens party leader said “full medical care” should be ensured for the former President, but noted a need for judicial accountability for past actions. Photo: 1tv.ge
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Georgia’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili is not a political prisoner and should be held accountable for actions during his presidency, Aleko Elisashvili, the Chairperson of the Citizens opposition party, said on Tuesday.
Elisashvili’s comments follow a fresh discussion on health conditions of, and care received by, Saakashvili in detention over the recent weeks. The Citizens party leader said “full medical care” should be ensured for the former President, but noted a need for judicial accountability for past actions.
I think Saakashvili is not a political prisoner - he committed such things during his presidency that he should be held accountable for, whether it’s beating a MP and then ousting him from the Parliament, or a whole chain of crimes against Girgvliani,” the opposition MP said, referring to the case of Valeri Gelashvili, a former opposition MP who was brutally beaten in 2005, and the 2006 killing of Sandro Girgvliani with the involvement of high-level state officials of the then-ruling United National Movement party under Saakashvili’s presidency.
On April 22, the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia said media reports on the alleged deterioration of the health condition of Saakashvili and claims of inadequate medical care provided to him in prison were “unfounded” and an “attempt to mislead the public”.
Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 after his clandestine return to Georgia. He had been found guilty of abuse of power in two cases in absentia in 2018 and faces additional charges including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal and illegal border crossing.
President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili told the Georgian Parliament on Monday she did not plan to consider the issue of pardoning the imprisoned ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
The Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia on Friday said media reports on the alleged deterioration of the health condition of the convicted former president Mikheil Saakashvili and inadequate medical care provided to him in prison were “unfounded” and an “attempt to mislead the public”.
Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian President currently serving his prison sentence, accused the Justice Ministry of ‘deliberately falsifying’ the court decisions.
Saakashvili’s statement came in response to the Justice Ministry’s announcement that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had decided to strike his application regarding ill-treatment by the Georgian penitentiary system off its list of cases.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze says that former president Mikheil Saakashvili is receiving all necessary medical services in Gldani Prison No.18 hospital, and that the ministry has invited more doctors to monitor Saakashvili while he is on hunger strike and who will give daily updates about the former president’s health condition.
Comments by Ukrainian Presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych confirm that if the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili were in power in Georgia, the country would be embroiled in a war, Thea Tsulukiani, the Georgian Vice Prime Minister and Culture Minister, said on Tuesday.
If the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili was in power today there would be a war in Georgia, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Wednesday.
The issue of the imprisoned former President Saakashvili is “not a very important one” today, the President Salome Zourabichvili said in an interview published by Foreign Policy on Thursday.
Georgian Minister of Justice Rati Bregadze on Monday said the country’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili was receiving “proper treatment” in prison, with “all necessary conditions” created by authorities both for ensuring adequate diet and visitor access to the politician.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria on Wednesday said she was ready to discuss the matter of the health condition of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili with “competent medical representatives” of the Justice Ministry and Penitentiary Service, and called on the state institutions to avoid “delaying” a review of the matter.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Friday denied intentions to pardon the imprisoned former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili or the recently imprisoned Director General of Mtavari Arkhi channel Nika Gvaramia.