Considered the leader of the opposition, the former president stopped eating on October 1 to protest his imprisonment on his return to Tbilisi, after years of exile in Ukraine.
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He refused to eat for 50 days. Imprisoned, former Georgian president and opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili ended his hunger strike on Saturday (November 19) after being transferred to a military hospital, some 90 kilometers west of the capital Tbilisi.
“He is still in critical condition and has been placed in an intensive care unit”, however, told AFP his personal doctor. The one who presided over Georgia from 2004 to 2013 had stopped eating on October 1 to protest his imprisonment on his return to Tbilisi, after years of exile in Ukraine.
On Thursday, the 53-year-old ex-leader fainted during a meeting with his lawyers. The doctor who examined him told AFP on Thursday that “life” of his patient “was threatened” and that he had to “be transferred to a civilian clinic without delay”, evoking heart and neurological problems in his patient. The Georgian authorities had rejected the doctors’ recommendations, but they changed their tone on Friday and transferred the ex-head of state overnight to a military hospital.
Thousands of Mikheil Saakashvili’s supporters took to the streets on Friday night in Tbilisi to demand guarantees of adequate medical assistance for the former leader. “I will never accept my illegal imprisonment”Mikheil Saakashvili said Friday night on Facebook, adding that he was ready to “appear before a fair trial and accept any verdict he delivers”.