"Saakashvili can invite any foreign doctor" - Minister of Justice of Georgia

Saakashvili may consult a foreign doctor

Mikheil Saakashvili can “invite any doctor from any foreign clinic”, and the state will give that doctor the opportunity to treat the former president, Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze said. He called recent statements about Saakashvili’s deteriorating health “an attempt to create tension and wage a smear campaign against the state.” Saakashvili was transferred to the Vivamed clinic due to the fact that he “did not follow” the treatment prescribed in prison, the Minister of Justice also said at a special briefing.

According to Bregadze, specialists from the Samkharauli National Forensic Bureau have already been asked to assess the health of Mikheil Saakashvili and to verify information disseminated by Saakashvili’s lawyer about possible poisoning. Saakashvili himself refused a toxicology exam, Bregadze said.

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When asked by a journalist why, if Saakashvili’s health is satisfactory, he was not allowed to attend trial, Bregadze replied:

“As you know, the medical staff has made a statement about this. Doctors did not recommend doing this, so we listened. I will also say that there is no such practice when a convict, while in a medical institution, goes from there to court. When a person is in the hospital he is being treated there, so it is not recommended to leave the hospital. Participation in court is possible only when a person is in a correctional institution and not in a hospital.”

Regarding the request to transfer Saakashvili for medical treatment abroad, the Minister of Justice said that the convict is serving his sentence in a prison on the territory of Georgia and the Ministry of Justice has no power to satisfy such a request. Saakashvili’s lawyers should apply to the court for a suspension of the execution of the sentence based on relevant expert opinion.

“The court will decide whether to extend the term or release from punishment, there is no other way. Since we firmly uphold the equality of all citizens before the law, I repeat that there will be no exceptions not provided for by law for anyone,” Bregadze stated.

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Saakashvili was unable to attend trial in Tbilisi City Court on November 28 in a case of illegal border crossing owing to ill health, even though Saakashvili himself requested to attend. Judge Nino Chakhnashvili stated that the meeting was postponed without determining the next date.

On October 6 of this year, the head of the State Security Service, Temur Janashia, who visited the ex-president at the Vivamed clinic, said that Saakashvili’s health had deteriorated so much that he was “actually no longer a person”, and felt very unwell due to a constant temperature of 38 degrees and high blood pressure. According to Janashia, Saakashvili is bed-ridden.

American expert Shahin Lahan, after their own visit, explained that studies show an acute shortage of all “vital indicators” and that such a state “should not happen in a normal person under conditions of normal health care.”

Saakashvili’s foreign lawyer Massimo Dangelo also visited him at the clinic and announced a significant deterioration in his client’s health. According to the lawyer, Saakashvili’s condition “threatens his life.”

US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan urged the Georgian government to take he Public Defender’s recommendations on Saakashvili’s health seriously.

Mikheil Saakashvili has been in prison for more than one year. The ex-president was arrested after he secretly returned to Georgia on October 1, 2021.