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”.
Georgia is the rule-of-law state and a sentence must be executed”, Bregadze said in an interview for Imedi TV.
Under the rule of law, an "accuser" is obliged to prove the allegations and in this case, Saakashvili’s family and his supporters “have not provided any evidence” of torture or inhuman treatment of ex-Pres., Bregadze emphasised.
The minister called on everyone to stop "politicising" the execution of justice around Saakashvili. He has to follow doctors’ recommendations, otherwise his health will deteriorate, Bregadze noted, adding the Government's interest was to ensure the health of the imprisoned former President, unlike the interests of the “radical group” of his supporters.
The Tbilisi City Court rejected claims of Saakashvili’s legal team on an alleged need for his “urgent treatment abroad due to multiple and serious health problems”. Georgian Government members and penitentiary authorities have been challenging the position by saying the former President has been engaged in “self-harm through disobeying doctors”, in a bid to facilitate his “illegal release” from detention.
Saakashvili, who has Ukrainian citizenship and held a public post in the country, was arrested on return to Georgia in October 2021 and is serving a six-year term for abuse of power in a case he had been convicted on. He has been undergoing treatment in the Vivamedi civilian clinic in Tbilisi since May 2022, with three other cases against him pending.