Filing shows US law firm received over $900,000 for lobbying for release of Saakashvili
The document also showed that Massimo D'Angelo, a New York partner at the Miami-based law firm, had been working on Saakashvili's case since July and was part of a “diplomatic push” to secure his release from prison. Photo: 1tv.ge
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A disclosure of the law firm Akerman with the United States Justice Department has shown it received $917,177 from the family of the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili for the purpose of lobbying US Government officials to help free the former official.
The disclosure, filed on February 3 under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, also revealed a large part of the money received for lobbying activities, up to about $300,000, had been used to pay medical experts involved in preparing reports as part of the efforts to make the case for his release in Georgian court proceedings.
The document also showed that Massimo D'Angelo, a New York partner at the Miami-based law firm, had been working on Saakashvili's case since July and was part of a “diplomatic push” to secure his release from prison.
As part of the efforts, D'Angelo and others communicated with government officials in the United States and Europe about measures to "hold Georgian officials accountable" for Saakashvili's imprisonment, the disclosure said, including through economic penalties, sanctions and suspension of foreign aid to the country.
Akerman's disclosure also noted its work for Saakashvili would include engaging with foreign diplomats and US officials to gain support for their client and “secure his release from prison on humanitarian grounds”.
Saakashvili, who was wanted in Georgia, was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021, after his clandestine return to the country, and is serving a six-year term for two separate cases of abuse of power while in office, with three other cases involving his term pending.
Nino Nadiradze, the head of the Vivamedi clinic in Tbilisi where the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili is undergoing treatment, on Friday said the former official’s “non-adjustment” to life in detention was a major cause of his health problems.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Wednesday said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement alleging that the Georgian Government had been torturing the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili was “unfair and insulting”.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Wednesday called on everyone to stop “politicising” the execution of justice and “supporting” the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s “self-harm”.
Zurab Chkhaidze, the Clinical Director of the Vivamedi clinic in Tbilisi, on Tuesday rejected claims by family members and lawyers of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili who said the latter was in “urgent need” of treatment in an intensive care unit.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said the opposition United National Movement party had created “false narratives and dilemmas” in positioning the matter of the release of the imprisoned former President and UNM founder Mikheil Saakashvili in the light of the country’s European integration prospects.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said allegations from a part of the domestic opposition about the Government’s “covert relations” with Russia formed a part of a “$1 million propaganda” effort, following revelations of a United States-based law firm having received a sum close to the figure from the family of the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili for lobbying the US Government to help free the convicted former official.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Sunday said the “wish” of the Georgian Government to ensure “good health” of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili was “not reciprocated” in the actions of the former official.
The imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili “decided to stop speculations and simulations with his health and admit he is feeling good” after the European Court of Human Rights in May rejected his request for seeing the Georgian Government be ordered to facilitate his transfer abroad on health grounds, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Wednesday.
Georgia’s Western partners were made “victims” of a “fake campaign” by the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, after the former put “perceptions before facts” in following claims by the former official’s supporters on his ill-treatment in detention and need for transfer abroad for medical treatment, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Thursday.
Thea Tsulukiani, the Vice Prime Minister of Georgia, on Wednesday said the latest disclosure of the United States-based law firm Akerman with the country’s Department of Justice had “proved” the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili had “paid for” European Parliament resolutions calling for his release and for lobbying for sanctions to be placed on the Georgian Government for his alleged ill-treatment in detention.
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.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Thursday said disclosures of the United States-based firms with the country’s Department of Justice as part of the Foreign Agents Registration Act had “shed light on the extent of political corruption against Georgia” by lobbyists hired by the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili and affiliated groups.