Opposition MP: Ensuring Saakashvili’s release goal of UNM, not other parties
Ioseliani acknowledged the Government should ensure “no question marks” remained regarding the health conditions of Saakashvili, a matter of ongoing controversy between the former official’s legal team and a part of the opposition on the one hand, and authorities on the other. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Levan Ioseliani, a member of the Citizens opposition party and the Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, on Wednesday said ensuring release of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili was a goal of the opposition United National Movement party, while other domestic opposition parties were “not motivated by such goals”.
Ioseliani acknowledged the Government should ensure “no question marks” remained regarding the health conditions of Saakashvili, a matter of ongoing controversy between the former official’s legal team and a part of the opposition on the one hand, and authorities on the other.
Of course, his [Saakashvili’s] party will do everything to achieve his release and transfer [abroad]. I believe that there should be no question marks regarding Saakashvili's health. The Government should do everything so that no one has a question mark regarding his health, neither in the country nor abroad”, the MP told local media.
“As for the release, politicians have different positions on his release. His party's goal is to see him released, while other parties are not motivated by such goals”, the opposition MP added.
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.
His lawyers and family members have claimed the former president is in “urgent need” of treatment abroad, adding local professionals had been “unable” to make “accurate diagnosis and ensure relevant treatment” for months.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday suspended the right of MPs to visit the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili in detention without permission.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday said President Salome Zourabichvili would need to consider her voters’ 2018 rejection of the opposition United National Movement party in deciding whether she would pardon the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili and his entourage “must come to terms with the reality” that the former official will “have to serve his sentence”, in comments on the ongoing controversies related to the former official’s health.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Wednesday said the “principal question” on whether she would pardon the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvi would be “answered in time”.
Irakli Zarkua, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday responded to an article by Michael McFaul, the former United States Ambassador to Russia, on the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili by saying mentioning the latter in connection to democratic and human rights concerns was “absurd”.
Iago Khvichia, an MP for the Girchi opposition party, on Monday said the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s call for Bill Browder, the author of the Magnitsky List that named Russian officials responsible for the 2009 death of tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in detention for subsequent Western sanctions, to compile a similar list for his alleged mistreatment in detention was “not credible” and rejected claims of Saakashvili’s torture by Georgian authorities.
Doctor Shahin Lahan, an American health professional who contributed to a medical report on the imprisoned former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, on Monday told Tbilisi City Court dementia was a “major health issue” for the former official’s condition in detention.