Parliament official: Saakashvili’s return to politics “forced move”

Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Committee on Human Rights, on Monday said the efforts of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili and his team to return to politics in the country was a “forced move”, and alleged their “main goal” of “evading justice”.

Sarjveladze’s comment followed a social media post by Saakashvili last week, in which he expressed his intention to “actively participate” in domestic politics.

The Parliament official responded to the comment by saying the domestic public had been “offered a false and untrue scenario [...] when [Saakashvili’s supporters] said that someone was intentionally harming Saakashvili's health [in detention]”.

It all turned out to be a lie. It became clear not only to the Georgian public, but also to the international community, that there was a simulation, the purpose of which was to evade fair and deserved justice”, Sarjveladze said.

“It seems that his main goal, and that of his entourage, is to avoid justice, and this will not have a positive perception from the public. This creates a bad prerequisite for his return to politics”, the Committee Chair noted.

Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021, after his clandestine return to Georgia, and is serving a six-year term for two separate abuse of power cases, with three other cases involving his term pending. He has been receiving treatment at the Vivamedi clinic in the capital.

His lawyers and family members have claimed the former President is in “urgent need” of treatment abroad, alleging local professionals had been “unable” to make “accurate diagnosis and ensure relevant treatment”.