"The reliability of the report on Saakashvili's health is zero" - Georgian Dream chairman

Kobakhidze’s reaction to Saakashvili’s medical report

Chairman of the Georgian Dream party Irakli Kobakhidze commented on the Empathy Center’s report on the health of former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili. The center is affiliated with the National Movement [Georgia’s main opposition party], so the credibility of the report is zero, Kabakhidze said. “Experts and the opposition are asking the government to release Saakashvili in order to “create unrest in the country,” Kobakhidze said.

The medical experts of Empathy Center have published a medical report on the health of former third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili. He was diagnosed with more than twenty disorders, ten of them serious, and Saakashvili’s condition is incompatible with imprisonment, doctors say. The main diagnoses have not been made public.

The report says that Saakashvili’s health is dire. Certain conditions will cause irreversible deterioration in health, reduced life expectancy and even death if Saakashvili is not given adequate treatment.

Saakashvili was found to have a fever of unknown etiology, anorexia, rapid weight loss, muscle, joint and bone pain, and body irritation and muscle spasms, which may be “the result of an unknown infectious process and / or possible intoxication.”

As for the diagnosis, Kobakhidze said the examination should specifically indicate the disease or pathology due to which Saakashvili should be released. It is also necessary to find out whether the former president is following the recommendations of doctors, Kobakhidze believes.

“Almost everyone faces certain types of deviations for medical reasons. Such a list does not mean anything by itself,” Kobakhidze said.

According to him, experts have reported worsening health for over 400 days of Saakashvili’s imprisonment:

“All this is unimaginable. The goal is to evoke sympathy and compassion despite the heinous crimes this man has committed.”

• Persecution of media and opponents in Georgia – the compromise resolution of the European Parliament
• “Because Saakashvili is called a political prisoner” – Georgian ruling party against PACE resolution
• What is Georgia’s ex-president tried for?

On November 28, a new trial began in the Tbilisi City Court on the case of illegal border crossing [Saakashvili returned to Georgia illegally from Ukarina in October last year]. Saakashvili was supposed to personally attend the court, but could not owing to his health. As a result, Judge Nino Chakhnashvili adjourned the hearing without setting a next date.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said on November 24 that Mikheil Saakashvili’s health is important for the country’s reputation, and if he feels so unwell, the court should make an adequate decision.

According to an assessment with the Public Defender of Georgia, published in April this year, the former president’s health is serious. The family requests that he be allowed abroad for treatment.

Kobakhidze’s reaction to Saakashvili’s medical report