Supporters and family fear former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili may have been poisoned in prison after losing around 60 kilograms of weight.
Imprisoned former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili appeared frail and emaciated by video link at a court hearing hearing an abuse of power case against him.
Saakashvili and his supporters claim he has been poisoned while in prison and now weighs about 60 kg (132 pounds), half of what he weighed when he was arrested in October 2021.
From a private clinic where he was being held, he told the court on Monday that despite his poor health, he was “spiritually fit and determined to serve the country,” according to local news site Agenda.
Saakashvili, 55, lifted his shirt to reveal ribs protruding from his chest, a hollow abdomen and skin clinging tightly to his bones.
“A totally innocent man is in custody,” he said in coverage broadcast live on several independent television channels.
“I didn’t commit a crime,” he said.
Imprisoned former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili appears on a screen via video link from a clinic during a court hearing in Tbilisi, Georgia, on July 3, 2023. [Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters]
The former president is being held in a civilian hospital, where he was transferred last year after going on a 50-day hunger strike to protest his arrest.
“Putting me in jail won’t break me. I’m going to actively participate in Georgian politics,” he said.
Saakashvili, who served as Georgia’s president from 2004 to 2013 and led the so-called Rose Revolution protests that ousted the previous president, left for Ukraine after the end of his second term.
He holds Ukrainian citizenship and was the governor of the Odesa region in 2015-16. After leaving Georgia, Saakashvili was convicted in absentia of abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison.
He was arrested in October 2021 after returning to Georgia to try to bolster opposition forces ahead of nationwide municipal elections. The former president is now on trial for “abuse of office” related to the violent dispersal of an opposition demonstration in 2007.
Doctors have said Saakashvili is at risk of death from conditions he developed while in detention, although Georgian authorities say he is receiving adequate medical care.
His brother, David Saakashvili, said the former president continued to lose weight, was at risk of death and may have been poisoned. The family says he is not receiving adequate medical treatment.
‘Political revenge’
The European Union and the United States have urged Georgia to ensure that Saakashvili receives medical treatment and that his rights are protected.
Amnesty International has described his treatment as “apparent political revenge”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday called for Georgia to send Saakashvili to Ukraine for medical treatment and said the Georgian ambassador would be called to the foreign ministry and would encourage him to return to Georgia within a deadline of two days to consult with your government.
In his daily video message on Monday evening, Zelenskyy accused Moscow of being behind the former leader’s poor treatment in prison and called on the international community not to ignore Saakashvili but to “save this man”.
“Ukraine has repeatedly asked the Georgian authorities to stop this show execution. Both we and our partners have offered several options to save Mykhailo,” he said.
Right now, Russia is murdering Ukrainian citizen Mykhailo Saakashvili at the hands of Georgian authorities.
We have repeatedly called on the official in Tbilisi to stop these abuses and agree on Saakashvili’s return to Ukraine. Our partners, in coordination with Ukraine, have also… pic.twitter.com/Gzvl4zJPR1
— Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) July 3, 2023
“No government in Europe has the right to execute people – life is a basic European value,” he added.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly claimed that Saakashvili is being slowly killed in Georgian custody, describing it as a de facto public execution.
Georgia, which had received significant US support under Saakashvili, lost a brief war against Russia in 2008, including control of its breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Much to Zelenskiy’s chagrin, Georgia does not support Western sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
