Ex-president Saakashvili sets 5 conditions for his transfer from prison to private clinic
Saakashvili’s transfer to private clinic
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is currently held in custody, says that if the authorities meet five of his conditions, he is ready to be transferred to the Vivamed clinic for further examinations. His letter from prison was published by Nika Gvaramia, a lawyer and founder of the opposition TV channel Mtavari Arkhi.
“Because my health condition is extremely unsatisfactory and I consider it incompatible with vital signs, I agree to go to the Vivamed Clinic for examinations, emergency medical care, and treatment under the following conditions:
- Permanent access to my ward for my family members, my personal doctor Nika Kipshidze and members of the alternative commission from the Empathy Center, which is granted by law and which I have been illegally denied until now.
- Persons designated by law, as well as lawyers and deputies, must have access during working hours.
- At each examination, diagnosis, appointment, as well as at further stages of treatment or the fact of recovery, decisions should be made by the composition of doctors on an equal footing with the involvement of the Empathy Center and with their consent, as well as with the members of the council under the Public Defender;
- As soon as I get the answers to the above questions, I will immediately be ready to go to the clinic.
- I ask you to resolve these issues with the involvement of my family members and lawyers,” writes ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
On May 10, Minister of Justice Rati Bregadze announced that Mikheil Saakashvili would be offered a transfer to the Vivamed clinic in order to avoid possible complications of his health.
According to him, Mikheil Saakashvili was prescribed medicines, but Saakashvili takes them selectively, thus, by his own decision, he “actually refuses full-fledged treatment”.
According to the conclusion of a council of doctors organized by the People’s Defender of Georgia, the state of health of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili has worsened. Saakashvili’s family asks to transfer him for treatment abroad.
According to doctors, Saakashvili is suffering from a protein hunger. He consumes about 1/4 of the usual amount of calories per day, and his body is “eating itself”.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan urges the Georgian government to take seriously the Ombudsman’s recommendations regarding the health of Georgia’s third President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The third President of Georgia, wanted by the authorities, secretly returned to Georgia on October 1, 2021, and was arrested and transferred from the Rustavi prison to a prison on the outskirts of Tbilisi (in the Gldani region).
Immediately after his arrest, the former president went on a hunger strike in protest. Saakashvili considers himself a political prisoner and personal prisoner of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the unofficial ruler of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili.
The former president went on a hunger strike for 50 days. During the last two weeks of his strike, Saakashvili refused to take medication. His condition worsened day by day. A group of doctors organized by the Public Defender of Georgia Nino Lomjaria assessed his condition as critical.
Georgian civil society, diplomats, ordinary citizens, actors, writers and other public figures called on the government to transfer the ex-president to a multidisciplinary clinic. This request was submitted to the Government by the Public Defender and the Service of the State Inspector of Georgia. The US State Department made the same call. Finally, on November 19, the third president was transferred to the Gori military hospital.
In addition, on November 10, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on provisional measures asking Saakashvili to end his hunger strike and instructing the state to ensure the prisoner’s safety and proper treatment.
