Imprisoned ex-pres. Saakashvili announces completion of ‘work on Georgia’s economic development plan’
Ruling party member Rati Ionatamishvili stated that the voters and supporters of Saakashvili no longer support the ‘UNM's rhetoric and plans for radicalisation.’ Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is serving a term in prison for abuse of power, has announced that he has completed ‘work on the country’s economic development plan’, opposition United National Movement (UNM) party member Giorgi Botkoveli says.
Saakashvili originally made news of the existence of the project public on January 5.
[Saakashvili] has already completed the [work on] economic plan and will present it himself in person very soon. He also has a lot of messages for his comrades and we will talk about all this at [an upcoming] meeting” Botkoveli stated.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says that the ex-president and the UNM ‘have distanced themselves from their own voters.’
Ruling party member Rati Ionatamishvili stated that the voters and supporters of Saakashvili no longer support the ‘UNM's rhetoric and plans for radicalisation.’
Opposition MPs from Citizens Party Levan Ioseliani stated that Saakashvili’s actions are ‘inconsistent and frivolous,’ noting that several days ago ‘he was the victim of torture and now is working on a plan.’
The ex-president has recently been transferred back to Rustavi Prison No. 12 on December 30 following a course of treatment at Gori Military Hospital due to a hunger strike which he started on the day of his arrest on October 1.
Saakashvili, who is a citizen of Ukraine, was found guilty of abuse of power in two cases in absentia in 2018 and is currently serving his sentence of six years of imprisonment following his clandestine return in October from eight years in political exile.
About 200 protesters demanding former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s release from prison have stopped a mass hunger strike announced on December 21, following the former president’s request to do so on January 1.
Ruling Georgian Dream party Head Irakli Kobakhidze has stated that he is not against setting up a parliamentary commission of inquiry to investigate the alleged ‘inhumane treatment’ of former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who claims prison staff verbally and physically abused him during the transfer to Gldani prison hospital on November 8.
Georgian Dream party MP Gia Volski says the law has not been violated by the transfer of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili to Rustavi No. 12 prison, noting that after recovery he had to be brought back to jail.
Former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was undergoing treatment in Gori Military Hospital following his 50-hunger-strike since the day of his arrest in Tbilisi on October 1, has been transferred from the hospital back to Rustavi No. 12 prison earlier today, the ex-president’s lawyer Nika Gvaramia reported.
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Georgia needs “less bureaucracy, stable and democratic change of government, less state intervention in the economy” and other elements for achieving economic development, the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s plan for the country reads, with the politician revealing key points on Thursday.