Saakashvili asks Zelensky to place him on list of civilian prisoners of war
Saakashvili appeals to Zelensky
Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili has appealed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, asking to be included — as a Ukrainian citizen, former Odesa governor and former head of the Executive Committee of Ukraine’s National Reform Council — on the list of civilian prisoners of war.
Saakashvili made the request in a statement posted on social media.
“I try not to trouble you with my concerns, knowing how much work you have, and I am grateful for the support and constant attention I receive from Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, the Verkhovna Rada, your administration and the Ombudsman.
But I am now forced to appeal to you because yesterday I was transferred from the prison hospital — where I was being treated after a severe poisoning — back into the custody of those who carried it out.
I was poisoned in March 2022, shortly after the full-scale war began. The fact of poisoning was confirmed by American and German laboratories. Putin demanded from the outset that action be taken against me, while Medvedev and Lavrov repeatedly boasted about my arrest.
I was initially detained on what were entirely fabricated charges, and the then Georgian prime minister openly stated that the case was connected to my work in Ukraine. In the new criminal case recently opened against me, I am accused, along with others, of acting in the interests of a hostile foreign state.
The case files include your statements and comments by Mykhailo Podolyak. In other words, Georgia’s illegitimate government is directly designating Ukraine as a hostile state. This is hardly surprising, as since the beginning of this war the Russian oligarch Ivanishvili and his associates have openly aligned themselves with Moscow.
In this context it is clear that my persecution and my fate are tied to the war. I am a Ukrainian citizen and the former head of the National Reform Council’s Executive Committee, where I had the honour of serving under your leadership.
I ask you — just as you restored my unlawfully revoked citizenship in 2019 — to include me, as a former chair of the Odesa Regional State Administration and head of the National Reform Council’s Executive Committee, unlawfully detained by Georgia’s pro-Russian regime, on the list of civilian prisoners of war, with all corresponding legal implications.
I know Ukrainians do not abandon their own, and I am counting on you,” Saakashvili wrote.
Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili has been transferred from the Vivamedi clinic back to Prison No. 12, where he will continue to serve his sentence under standard conditions, the Special Penitentiary Service said on 12 November.
The agency explained that Saakashvili was discharged from the clinic as his health was deemed satisfactory and he no longer required inpatient care.
Saakashvili was arrested on 1 October 2021 and has been sentenced to a total of 12 years and six months in prison across several cases.
He has also been banned from holding public office for three years after completing his sentence.
On 7 November 2025, new criminal proceedings were launched against several leaders of Georgia’s pro-Western opposition, including Mikheil Saakashvili, Giorgi Vashadze, Nika Gvaramia, Nikanor Melia, Zurab “Girchi” Japaridze, Elene Khoshtaria, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the case involves allegations of sabotage, aiding and abetting hostile activities against a foreign state, financing actions aimed at undermining Georgia’s constitutional order and national security, as well as calls to violently overthrow the government.
Under the new charges, Saakashvili faces between two and four years in prison.
Saakashvili appeals to Zelensky
