ECHR has rejected Saakashvili’s request for transfer to Poland for treatment - Georgian Justice Minister
Bregadze said the ECHR ruling, published today, had neither accepted the request for transfer abroad nor instructed the Georgian authorities to move the former official to another treatment facility within the country, stressing the decision had confirmed the Government’s actions in his treatment in detention had been “correct and in accordance with the highest standards of human rights”. Photo via Justice Ministry
Tweet 
Share
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.
At a press briefing, Bregadze said Saakashvili’s lawyers had sent a request to ECHR on April 11 asking for support in requesting postponement of the rest of the former President’s sentence on health grounds and his transfer to Poland for continued medical care.
The Minister said Saakashvili’s lawyers had subsequently also appealed to the ECHR against the ruling by Tbilisi Court of Appeals in March, which in turn upheld the earlier verdict of Tbilisi City Court denying Saakashvili release or postponement of the rest of his sentence on health grounds.
Bregadze said the ECHR ruling, published today, had neither accepted the request for transfer abroad nor instructed the Georgian authorities to move the former official to another treatment facility within the country, stressing the decision had confirmed the Government’s actions in his treatment in detention had been “correct and in accordance with the highest standards of human rights”.
He also said Saakashvili, who has been undergoing treatment at the Vivamedi civilian clinic in Tbilisi since May 2022, could be transferred back to a penitentiary facility in case of an “appropriate decision” by the doctors involved in his treatment.
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. He has three other cases against him pending.