Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has issued a statement on the situation with ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili. Ms. Zurabishvili urged Mr. Saakashvili to leave Georgian politics. In her opinion, Georgia has become “a hostage of this single issue (the issue of Saakashvili – “uh”)”, while other important issues are not discussed in the public field. Statement published on site government.
“Given the statements of the former president and as a result of the fact that he does not recognize and does not repent of committing crimes, if he is released, he will become an active opponent not only of the authorities, but also in fact the reputation of the country, and therefore its European chances,” the statement said. Salome Zurabishvili’s statement.
According to her, even if she grants it to him, Mikheil Saakashvili will not be able to leave the prison due to the initiation of new criminal cases against him. Ms. Zurabishvili added that Mr. Saakashvili pursued the wrong policy during his presidency. In her opinion, he moved away from the idea of Georgia’s accession to the European Union and the implementation of 12 recommendations to obtain the status of an EU candidate.
“Let the country miss this huge chance, turn our European path from a priority issue to a secondary one and replace it with another topic – a crime and a great responsibility for the future. The ruling party and the opposition bear joint responsibility,” she said in a statement.
Earlier, a court in Tbilisi refused to transfer Mikheil Saakashvili to a European clinic for treatment. On February 6, his lawyers applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) with a request to make an “urgent decision” on the urgent transfer of Mr. Saakashvili to a European “life-saving” clinic.
According to doctors, Mikheil Saakashvili suffers from mental and endocrinological diseases. Since his arrest on October 1, 2021, he has lost almost half of his weight, going from 127 kg to 69 kg. Justice Minister Rati Bregvadze accused him of “self-harming” and wanting to “avoid punishment.” By decision of the minister, since May last year, Mikhail Saakashvili has been not in prison, but in the elite Tbilisi clinic Vivamedi.
