American medical expert interviewed in court hearing for imprisoned ex-Pres Saakashvili
Doctor Shahin Lahan, an American health professional, was remotely interviewed on Monday at a trial hearing over former President Mikheil Saakashvili. Photo: RFE/RL
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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.
Lahan, who had been commissioned by the Georgian-based rehabilitation centre Empathy to contribute to the organisation’s recent report on the neurological condition of the politician, was interviewed during the latest trial hearing on whether Saakashvili will be granted release or postponement of the rest of his sentence on medical grounds.
Along with dementia - a general term describing impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions - Saakashvili also suffers from seizures and polyneuropathy, or a malfunction of peripheral nerves, he told the Court.
Lahan also said Saakashvili had been “healthy” before his arrest following the clandestine return from Ukraine to Georgia in October 2021, and claimed his current “complicated health” was related to stress and alleged ill-treatment in custody.
Contesting the claim on Saakashvili’s good health before his arrest, Georgia’s Special Penitentiary Service presented health records showing a range of symptoms displayed and treatments undergone by the former President during his lifetime.
Lawyers claimed Saakashvili was unable to participate in today's trial due to "poor health". Photo: IPN.
These included a diagnosis of meningo-encephalitis at the age of 3 to 4, injuries sustained in Tbilisi and Turkey between 2012 and 2013, a 2017 sleeve gastrectomy for treating “resistant, pathological obesity” of third degree, Post-Covid Syndrome in 2020 and treatment for anxiety and depression in 2021, before his arrest in Tbilisi.
Malkhaz Urtmelidze, the Head of the Medical Department of the Service, also cited Saakashvili as having said he had consumed up to two bottles of cognac together with medication to calm himself down before his arrest, and challenged the American professional on whether the intake of the alcohol dose was “normal”. In his response, Lahan acknowledged consumption of alcohol in taking medicine for treatment of depression and anxiety was “not acceptable” from the medical point of view.
Urtmelidze also countered the health professional’s comment on dementia by saying Saakashvili would not be able to “speak five languages or write letters from prison” had he been suffering from the diagnosis.
The health report commissioned by Empathy, which had pointed to more than 20 health issues and raised the potential of “coma and death” for Saakashvili, was cited by the imprisoned politician’s lawyers in their appeal to the court on December 1 to either release Saakashvili or postpone the rest of his sentence.
Responding to the appeal, authorities said Saakashvili was engaging in “self-harm” and refusing to follow doctors’ instructions in order to “escape justice” through the medical cause.
Saakashvili, a citizen of Ukraine, was arrested in Tbilisi ahead of municipal elections and is now serving a six-year term for abuse of power in two separate cases stemming back to his time in office, while three other cases are pending.
The next trial hearing on whether he will be granted release or postponement of sentence is scheduled for Wednesday.
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”.
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.
The trial of the jailed Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili in the case of illegal crossing of the state border, set to have been held on Tuesday at the Vivamed clinic, was postponed, the prosecutor of the mentioned case Levan Vepkhvadze said, explaining Saakashvili had refused to testify and said he had “nothing to discuss” with the court.
The Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office on Monday said it had charged an individual for premeditated murder, intentional damage to health, coercion and threats, as well as illegal purchase and carrying of a firearm following an incident that left one dead in Tbilisi on Sunday.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Thursday said the health reports of the Georgian-based rehabilitation centre Empathy on imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s condition were not “reliable and infallible”, based on the conclusions of the Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau.
Georgia’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili has lost his appeal for release or postponement of the rest of his sentence on health grounds, with Tbilisi City Court on Monday denying the application in the case that has been surrounded by public debate.
The Georgian Special Penitentiary Service on Wednesday rejected claims by the family and legal team of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili that said he was “unable to move” due to the allegedly worsening health condition, and released footage from the clinic where the former official is receiving treatment to disprove the statement.