Justice Minister: Gov’t wish for ensuring Saakashvili’s health “not reciprocated” by former President

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.

Bregadze told Imedi TV both Saakashvili’s presence in a private clinic in Tbilisi, and the “constant supervision” of his condition by doctors served to demonstrate the efforts of state authorities in ensuring his health, but added the imprisoned politician “wants to make sure he is in as bad of a condition as possible” to ensure he was granted release from detention on health grounds. 

[T]he main problem is that our and Mikheil Saakashvili's wishes do not coincide. Our wish is for the prisoner Saakashvili to be healthy, while he has no wish for that. He wants to make sure he is in as bad of a condition as possible, so that by artificially damaging his health, he can leave the prison”, the Minister said.

Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021 after his clandestine return to Georgia. He 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. 

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” for months.

In contrast to the claims, penitentiary authorities have said the former President has been engaged in “self-harm” and disobedience of doctors’ instructions, with the aim of facilitating an “escape from justice”.