Former President Mikheil Saakashvili is not receiving the treatment he needs in prison. Doctors say he is in danger of dying.
Georgian opposition leader and former president Mikhail Saakashvili announced in court on Monday that it would start a new hunger strike, news agency AFP reports.
He has been returned to prison from a prison hospital, where he was transferred at the end of his first hunger strike in critical condition. Saakashvili had not eaten for 50 days and is still suffering from severe symptoms and illnesses.
According to Saakashvili, he is not receiving proper treatment in prison.
“I am going on hunger strike today,” he said in court in Tbilisi.
“I demand appropriate treatment as recommended by independent doctors.”
Saakashvili according to doctors who examined at the hospital, he has suffered not only from a hunger strike but also from torture and other ill-treatment in prison.
According to them, Saakashvili could die if he does not receive the care he needs. A new hunger strike could also lead to his death.
“Currently, he is not receiving proper treatment,” commented the doctor who examined Saakashvili Mariam Jiškariani To AFP.
Western-minded Saakashvili served as President of Georgia from 2004 to 2013. He was arrested last year on October 1, shortly after he secretly returned from exile from Ukraine.
Saakashvili is accused of abusing his position of power, but he himself sees his imprisonment as a political retaliation by the country’s current leadership. The current Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili has commented that Saakashvili was “forced to arrest because he refused to stay out of politics”.
The arrest sparked widespread anti-government protests in Georgia.
Human Rights Organization According to Amnesty International, Saakashvili’s treatment “is not just a selective right but an obvious political revenge”.
The European Court of Human Rights is calling for the safety and security of Saakashvili. The U.S. State Department has also urged Georgia to treat Saakashvili “fairly and with dignity”.
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