Georgian FM highlights “misunderstanding and concern” over incident involving Polish medical professional
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Monday said actions of a visiting Polish medical professional had caused “misunderstanding and concern” after an alleged attempt of smuggling of a medical sample of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili out of a Tbilisi clinic last week. Photo: MFA of Georgia
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Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Monday said actions of a visiting Polish medical professional had caused “misunderstanding and concern” after an alleged attempt of smuggling of a medical sample of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili out of a Tbilisi clinic last week.
Darchiashvili’s comment came after Georgia’s Special Penitentiary Service on Friday said one of the two Polish professionals who were visiting Saakashvili to inspect treatment offered to him at the clinic had attempted to smuggle the biological sample out of the facility despite having received an official permission to take it. The body also released footage allegedly showing the incident.
The Minister said the incident had “brought the entire process into disrepute” in his meeting with the acting Polish Ambassador to Georgia Mariusz Pietrzak, with the foreign office noting the Government had explained to the diplomat its interest of providing “complete information” to the public about Saakashvili's health condition.
Darchiashvili also stressed his Government had “repeatedly” expressed its readiness to admit foreign doctors to the clinic following the rejection by the European Court of Human Rights in May of Saakashvili’s appeal to be transferred to Poland for continuation of his treatment.
At the meeting, the Georgian side emphasised that the behaviour of one of the professionals included in the Polish medical mission causes misunderstanding, concern and also brings the entire process into disrepute”, the Ministry said.
“[Pietrzak] was asked to state his stance on the incident. At the meeting, the Polish diplomat noted that he was not informed about what had caused the mentioned behaviour of the Polish [medical] professional”, the body added.
Saakashvili is currently serving a six-year-term for abuse of power while in office in two separate cases, while three other cases involving him are still pending. He was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021 after eight years abroad, following his clandestine return to Georgia ahead of domestic municipal elections.
Rati Bregadze, the Georgian Justice Minister, on Sunday said a Polish professional who had been allowed to inspect the state of health of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili in a Tbilisi clinic had “admitted” an attempted smuggling of the former official’s biological sample out of the facility on July 12.
The acting Polish Ambassador to Georgia was on Monday summoned to the country’s foreign office over last week’s incident involving a visiting Polish medical professional who allegedly attempted to conceal a sample taken from the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili and smuggle it out of the clinic the former official is receiving treatment at.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Saturday said the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, which in May rejected an appeal by Mikheil Saakashvili, the imprisoned former President of Georgia and a citizen of Ukraine, for transfer abroad from Georgia for treatment, “confirmed that the country’s Government has been treating Saakashvili under the European standards”.
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.
Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Committee on Human Rights, on Wednesday claimed the legal team of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s was working to “create impressions damaging the country's reputation” internationally, after the latest disclosure on the United States Department of Justice’s website of activities of a lobbying firm associated with the former official’s lawyers.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Wednesday said it was “shameful” that “simulant” imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili had been paying “millions of dollars” to damage the country’s reputation,after the latest disclosure on the United States Department of Justice’s website of activities of a lobbying firm associated with the former official’s lawyers.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday warned the Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili against pardoning the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Kakha Kaladze, the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party and Tbilisi Mayor, on Monday warned President Salome Zourabichvili against pardoning the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.