Ex-Pres. Saakashvili has not requested foreign doctor for treatment - Justice Minister
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Monday reiterated his office was ready to allow a foreign professional’s involvement in the former President’s treatment. Photo: Justice Ministry press office
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Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Monday said neither the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili nor his family and legal team had requested involvement of foreign medical professionals in his treatment following an offer by the Georgian authorities.
Speaking to the media following the weekly Government meeting, the Minister said his office had offered Saakashvili’s family in November 2022 to invite “any doctor, from any foreign clinic” to monitor his health at the Vivamedi civilian clinic in Tbilisi, where Saakashvili has been undergoing treatment since May of that year.
The official also rejected media reports alleging the Government had prevented a group of Polish professionals from visiting the former official in the clinic as “fake”.
Rikard Jozwiak, the Europe Editor of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, last week tweeted Polish professionals had been granted access to Saakashvili, with the date of the visit not specified. He also added the approval was not related to the former official’s transfer to Poland “or elsewhere” for treatment.
EU officials: a ???????? medical team has been granted access to #Saakashvili. No date yet when they will travel to #Georgia. and this is NOT about a transfer of the former President to Poland or elsewhere.
— Rikard Jozwiak (@RikardJozwiak) March 16, 2023
In comments on the recent rejection by the Tbilisi City Court and the Court of Appeals of a request to grant Saakashvili release or postponement of the rest of his sentence on health grounds, and subsequent claims of his legal team of intentions to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights, Bregadze said the decision was “completely up to them”.
He also noted the ECHR had in 2021 rejected Saakashvili’s application over his alleged ill-treatment in prison, likewise denying his appeal for his transfer from a prison hospital to a private clinic and instead urging him to call off his hunger strike.
I have said it many times that Saakashvili’s rights as a prisoner, like other inmates in the country, have never been violated”, Bregadze said.
Saakashvili, who has Ukrainian citizenship and held a public post in the country, was arrested on return to Georgia in October 2021 and is serving a six-year term for abuse of power in a case he had been convicted on. Three other cases against him are pending.
Georgia’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili has lost his appeal for release or postponement of the rest of his sentence on health grounds, with Tbilisi City Court on Monday denying the application in the case that has been surrounded by public debate.
Georgian justice minister Rati Bregadze on Tuesday said the government was offering the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili to bring “any doctor from any foreign clinic” and involve them in his treatment in Georgia.
The European Court of Human Rights has decided to strike the application of Georgia’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili regarding on his treatment by the country’s penitentiary system off its list of cases, Deputy Justice Minister Beka Dzamashvili said on Friday.
The European Court of Human Rights has rejected a complaint by former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili on his transfer to a private clinic from a prison hospital, and instead urged him to call off his hunger strike, the Georgian Ministry of Justice said yesterday and released an interim judgement of the court.The court demanded from the Georgian government to inform them about Saakashvili’s state of health and ensure proper medical care for him now and in the post-hunger-strike period.
The civilian Vivamedi clinic in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, where the country’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili has been receiving treatment [since May 2022], on Wednesday appealed to the Special Penitentiary Service to evaluate the “expediency” of Saakashvili’s “further stay” in hospital.
Thea Tsulukiani, the Vice Prime Minister of Georgia, on Monday criticised the Norwegian Conservative Party for awarding the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili with the Sjur Lindebrække Prize for Democracy and Human Rights.
Officials of the ruling Georgian Dream party on Tuesday criticised the Norwegian Conservative Party for awarding the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili with the Sjur Lindebrække Prize for Human Rights and Democracy, a move they said was “cynical” towards the Georgian state and its citizens.
Malkhaz Urtkmelidze, the head of the medical department of the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia, on Tuesday said the country’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili had not yet submitted any complete request to involve the Polish doctors in his treatment.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Friday said the European Court of Human Rights had rejected the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s request to be transferred to Poland’s capital Warsaw for treatment.