No complete request submitted by ex-Pres. Saakashvili for involving Polish doctors in his treatment - Special Penitentiary Service official

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.

Urtkmelidze called on the former President to fulfil all medical recommendations of the doctors “for his own interest”, and noted the patient still refused to take medicines or follow parenteral nutrition, as well as any other medical interventions.

The clinic Vivamedi appealed to the Special Penitentiary Service last week to evaluate the “expediency” of Saakashvili’s “further stay” in hospital. According to the clinic’s statement, since last year’s October, the patient has been refusing the proposed medical treatment regimen, “especially if it may have a positive effect on his health”.

Saakashvili was transferred from the No. 12 Prison in the city of Rustavi to the civilian clinic Vivamedi in the capital Tbilisi in May 2022.

The former President, who has Ukrainian citizenship and held a public post in the country, was arrested on return to Georgia in October 2021 and has been serving a six-year term for abuse of power in a case he had been convicted on. Three other cases against him are pending.