Imprisoned ex-president Saakashvili goes on hunger strike as “reaction to the regime”
At today’s hearing, Saakashvili also read a letter sent by his doctor from the Netherlands, with the note forbidding the former president to go on a hunger strike again following his previous action, saying it could cause “irreversible and lethal consequences.” Photo: 1tv.ge.
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Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, in prison for abuse of power, has gone on a second hunger strike three months after the end of his first protest, with the convicted politician telling the public on Monday the decision is a “reaction to the regime” and for a “better future for Georgia”.
Saakashvili announced the beginning of his hunger strike at a hearing of his trial concerning the illegal dispersal of an opposition rally in central Tbilisi on November 7, 2007. The former president told the court “[i]f necessary, you will see how true presidents and true leaders die with a head held high. I declare a permanent hunger strike from today.”
At today’s hearing, Saakashvili also read a letter sent by his doctor from the Netherlands, with the note forbidding the former president to go on a hunger strike again following his previous action, saying it could cause “irreversible and lethal consequences.”
The former president, who currently is serving a sentence for abuse of power after his clandestine return from eight years in political exile, began the first hunger strike on October 1, following his arrest in Tbilisi and ended the 50-day hunger protest on November 19 after his transfer to Gori Military Hospital.
Saakashvili was under hunger-related treatment in a hospital late last year, before his transfer back to Rustavi Prison No. 12 on December 30. However, on January 19, a medical council summoned by the Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria concluded he required further psychological and physical rehabilitation.
The former president, now a citizen of Ukraine, 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.