(Tbilisi) Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, incarcerated since returning from exile in early October and on hunger strike for several weeks, is in critical condition and is not receiving appropriate care, doctors said on Wednesday evening .
“The current state of health of the patient is considered critical,” the group of doctors formed by the Georgian human rights defender said in a statement, adding that the prison hospital where the former president is being treated cannot respond to questions. his medical needs.
Doctors have requested the immediate transfer of Mr. Saakashvili to an intensive care unit in a better equipped civilian hospital.
Last week, Mr. Saakashvili, who has refused to eat for 48 days to protest his imprisonment on 1er October, shortly after returning from exile from Ukraine, was transferred to a prison hospital due to deteriorating health.
But despite warnings from doctors who deemed his life in danger, the Georgian government has so far refused his transfer from the hospital-prison where he is in a civilian establishment.
On Tuesday, Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze said that the establishment where Mr. Saakashvili is now “has all the necessary equipment to monitor the prisoner’s state of health.”
“At no time was Saakashvili deprived of the medical assistance he needed,” he said.
The 53-year-old former leader said he was mistreated by his guards in prison and said he feared for his life.
Human rights organizations condemned the treatment of Mr. Saakashvili, believing it to be politically motivated revenge.
Several opposition MPs also observed a hunger strike, demanding appropriate medical treatment for Mr Saakashvili, a demand also made by the United States and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Seized under urgent procedure, the ECHR on November 10 asked the Georgian government to “ensure the security in prison” of the former head of state, to administer “appropriate medical care” to him. and that he informs her “about her state of health”. The ECHR also called on Mr. Saakashvili to end his hunger strike.
On November 11, Mr. Saakashvili announced that he would agree to end his hunger strike if transferred to a civilian “high-tech clinic”.
On November 9, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Tbilisi to demand the release of the former head of state and the organization of early elections.
Mr Saakashvili’s arrest exacerbated a political crisis following the legislative elections in 2020, narrowly won by the currently ruling Georgian Dream Party, and which the opposition viewed as fraudulent.
Pro-Western president from 2004 to 2013 and now considered the leader of the opposition, Mr. Saakashvili returned on 1er October in Georgia after an eight-year exile. Immediately arrested, he was imprisoned under a conviction for “abuse of power”, which he considers to be purely political.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili caused a scandal by declaring that Mr. Saakashvili “had the right to commit suicide” and that the government had been forced to arrest him because he had refused to give up politics.