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. Photo: Ministry of Justice
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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”.
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.
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.
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.
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 Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said the Georgian public had responded with rejection to the “radicalism” and the “staged movie” of the 2021 clandestine return to the country of the now-imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Georgia’s Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Monday rejected reports by several domestic media outlets that said his meeting with ambassadors of the European Union and Sweden earlier during the day had concerned the transfer of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili abroad on health grounds.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Tuesday rejected the accusations of torture and inhuman treatment of imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili as “not supported by evidence”, stressing these allegations were “a part of the political agenda”.
The Tbilisi Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld the verdict of the Tbilisi City Court that denied the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili's release or postponement of the rest of his sentence on health grounds.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Wednesday said “everyone inside and outside the country” who had “protected and promoted” the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili since his conviction in Georgia in absentia in 2018 had “accepted unrest” in the country.
Koka Katsitadze, the Chair of Georgia’s Special Investigation Service, on Tuesday said the country’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili had failed to respond to his agency’s offer of an interview following the former official’s claims of having been poisoned in custody.
Zurab Chkhaidze, the Medical Director of Tbilisi’s Vivamedi clinic where the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili is receiving treatment, on Thursday said a visiting group of Polish medical professionals had “approved” the treatment offered by the staff of the venue to the former official.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday called “absurd and shameful” the calls by some members of the European Parliament on the Georgian authorities to transfer the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili to a European Union member country for “necessary and appropriate medical care”.
Medical professional from a visiting group of Polish doctors assessing the treatment offered by the staff of the Tbilisi’s Vivamedi clinic where the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili is receiving treatment attempted to sneak a sample taken from the former official through his shoe, the Special Penitentiary Service said on Friday.
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.
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.
The Justice Training Centre of Georgia has become the Chair of the European Penitentiary Training Academies, a body uniting 36 member states of the Council of Europe to enhance cooperation, share knowledge and best practices among training institutions of the penitentiary system across the continent.
Rati Bregadze, the Georgian Justice Minister, on Wednesday said comments by United National Movement, the largest opposition group in the country’s Parliament, that positioned the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili as the party’s leader were a “classic example of informal rule” in the group.