Parliament official says opposition MPs’ hunger strike over Saakashvili seeks enabling his “escape from responsibility”
The claim has been rejected by Georgian authorities, who have stressed Saakashvili is provided with adequate treatment in the country. A court hearing for a decision over the matter is scheduled for next week. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Committee on Human Rights, on Monday said the goal of the hunger strike declared by several members of the opposition United National Movement party in support of allowing the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili a transfer abroad for medical treatment was for “facilitating his escape from responsibility”.
“When they ask for [Saakashvili] to be taken abroad because of [an alleged] humanitarian problem, they are not asking for treatment and improvement of his health, but [focusing on] his transfer abroad”, the Parliament official said.
That is why [authorities] have been asking for so long to see the evidence for the [allegedly] necessary medical procedure that this person needs, and that is [also presumably] not available [domestically]”, the Parliament official said in reference to claims by Saakashvili’s lawyers and a part of the opposition that domestic medical services of professionals are inadequate for ensuring the treatment for the former official.
“The [actual] goal of the hunger strikers is not to improve Saakashvili's health, but to achieve the political goal of equipping Saakashvili with immunity, so that he would no longer be subject of responsibility”, Sarjveladze concluded.
Four members of UNM - Davit Kirkitadze, Ana Tsitlidze, Temur Janashia and Abdula Ismailov - on Thursday started a hunger strike in the Parliament, saying their protest would continue until Saakashvili was granted a transfer to another country for treatment.
The claim has been rejected by Georgian authorities, who have stressed Saakashvili is provided with adequate treatment in the country. A court hearing for a decision over the matter is scheduled for next week.
The former President has been receiving treatment at the Vivamedi clinic since May 12, after he was moved from the Gori Military Hospital - where he was transferred in late November 2021 from the hospital of the Gldani No.18 prison. The latter, in turn, served as his detention location after his move from the Rustavi No.12 prison, the initial detention venue, in early November last year.
The third President, currently a citizen of Ukraine, was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021 on his clandestine return to Georgia ahead of municipal elections. He has been serving a six-year term for abuse of power in two separate cases stemming back to his time in office, while three other cases are pending.
Roman Gotsiridze, a MP for the opposition United National Movement party, on Friday said it would “not be right” for party members to leave their Parliamentary mandates in protest over the latest developments around the health and sentence of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday responded to a call by the Ukrainian foreign office for Georgian authorities to accept the request for delaying the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s sentence for ensuring his medical treatment abroad by saying the former official had committed crimes in Georgia that necessitated his serving of the sentence in the country.
Archil Talakvadze, the Georgian Parliament's Vice Speaker, on Thursday said the entourage of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili “do not care about his health”, alleging their interest in facilitating his escape from justice through a bypassing of the law.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said attempts of “politicised interference” with Georgian justice were “unacceptable”, in his remarks on debates held on Monday in the European Parliament about latest developments around the health and sentence of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said the 2021 arrival of former President Mikheil Saakashvili from Ukraine to Georgia had been a “special operation” to involve the country in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Citizens opposition party MP Aleko Elisashvili on Monday criticised the appeal of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Georgian authorities to enable the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili's transfer abroad for medical treatment as "inappropriate".
The Ukrainian Government was “directly involved” in the “special operation” to send the former President Mikheil Saakashvili to Georgia and the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy “bears his share of responsibility” in this regard, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Tuesday in response to the appeal of Zelenskyy to Georgian authorities to transfer the imprisoned former President Saakashvili abroad for medical treatment.
Georgia's Vice Prime Minister Thea Tsulukiani on Tuesday responded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call for Georgian authorities to allow the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili a transfer abroad for treatment by highlighting human rights violations during the latter’s time in Government.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said ensuring the good health of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili was in the interest of Georgian authorities and doctors as he had five more years of his sentence to serve.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Sunday said the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s lawyer had been spreading “contradictory” information about the prisoner’s health condition.
Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said pardoning the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili would be a “gravest” move for President Salome Zourabichvili and her career.