Doctors, not lawyers or politicians should discuss ex-Pres Saakashvili’s health - ruling party MP
Ruling Georgian Dream party MP David Sergeenko called on politicians on Friday to refrain from making comments on former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s health. Photo:Parliament of Georgia press office
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Medical professionals and not politicians or lawyers should discuss the matter of health of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, ruling Georgian Dream party MP and former Health Minister David Sergeenko said on Friday in comments on recent statements by Saakashvili’s lawyers about the former President's plans to withdraw from politics due to poor health.
In remarks, Sergeenko, who also holds the post of Parlaiment’s vice-speaker, said “he was surprised by “mixing of duties", stressing that doctors should be given the opportunity to speak about the condition of the former President “without any pressure”.
I was always surprised when politicians were discussing Saakashvili's health,while lawyers questioned his [Saakashvili’s] presence or absence in politics. Doctors should be given the opportunity to discuss the topics which concern them without any pressure”, Segeenko said.
Saakashvili’s lawyers said last week that the former President had plans to leave politics, claiming that the third president had serious health problems.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday welcomed reports of Saakashvili planning to retire from political life, saying Saakashvili’s presence in domestic politics was “unlawful” as the former President held Ukrainian citizenship and chaired the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council before being arrested in the Georgian capital last year.
Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chairman of the Georgian Parliament’s Committee on Human Rights, on Thursday said decisions by individuals to engage in or withdraw from politics were a personal matter, in response to a joint letter of the Citizens and Girchi opposition parties calling on the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili to withdraw from politics and urging the former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili to take political office again in a bid to ease domestic political polarisation “hampering” Georgia’s European Union membership process.
Two Parliamentary opposition groups, the Citizens and Girchi parties, on Thursday released a joint letter calling on the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili to withdraw from politics and urging the former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili to take political office again in a bid to ease domestic political polarisation “hampering” Georgia’s European Union membership process.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday welcomed reports of former President Mikheil Saakashvili planning to retire from political life, saying Saakashvili’s presence in domestic politics was “unlawful” as the former President held Ukrainian citizenship and chaired the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council before being arrested in the Georgian capital last year.
Georgia's imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili is leaving the United National Movement opposition party and Georgian politics as “his agenda has changed” and taking care of own health has become his main task, lawyer Valeri Gelbakhiani announced on Saturday.
The distancing of imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili from Georgian politics is “unimaginable”, Khatia Dekanoidze, the Chair of the United National Movement party in the state legislature, said on Wednesday in comments on recent statements by Saakashvili’s lawyers about the former President's plans to withdraw from politics due to “poor health”.
British medical expert Cornelius Katona on Tuesday visited the convicted former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili in a Tbilisi clinic following claims by Saakashvili’s lawyers and family about his deteriorated health.
The special penitentiary service on Sunday said it had not been provided with any official report, confirming the authenticity of information disseminated by the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s lawyer about the possible poisoning of the prisoner.