“Not surprising” ex-Pres Saakashvili is “trying to escape justice” - Ruling party MP

Ruling Georgian Dream party MP Mamuka Mdinaradze on Tuesday said “no-one can be surprised” that the country’s jailed former President Mikheil Saakashvili “s trying to escape justice”, in response to recent statements by Saakashvili’s lawyers on the politician’s “seriously deteriorated health” that allegedly requires treatment abroad.

In his comments, Mdinaradze said Saakashvili had been provided will “all neccessary, qualified” medical care since his arrest in Tbilisi in October, reminding the former President that he had been the “creator of a criminal regime which tortured prisoners” while in office. 

Whether Saakashvili has serious or less-serious health issues, he will be provided with highly-qualified medical aid. No-one under the current state authorities will even think of committing the kind of things towards inmates the UNM did while in power”, Mdinaradze said. 

In response to allegations over “poor treatment” of the imprisoned politician, Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze said on Monday the Government may invite independent medical experts to examine the health condition of Saakashvili, in a bid to “remove all questions” around the matter amid claims by the former President’s attorneys and family that he was in “urgent need” of “proper treatment” abroad.

Former President Mikheil Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 of the last year. Video grab. 

Arrested in Tbilisi on his clandestine return to the country ahead of the October 2021 municipal elections, Saakashvili has claimed his 49-day hunger strike and “improper treatment while in custody” have “seriously deteriorated” his health.

Opposing the allegations, Georgian Dream authorities have maintained the rights of the former President have been “fully protected”, including in his transfer for treatment to Gori Military Hospital in November and then to Vivamedi clinic in May. 

• What criminal charges are filed against recently arrested ex-president Saakashvili?

Facing several charges, Saakasvili is currently serving a six-year prison term after he was sentenced in absentia in 2018 on two separate charges of abuse of power.