In Georgia, thousands took part in a protest on Saturday at Rustavi City Prison, where former President Mikheil Saakashvili has been imprisoned for more than a month.
Protesting Georgian flags and chanting Saakashvili’s name, protesters demanded that the deteriorating former president be taken to a private clinic.
“Saakashvili’s life must be saved,” said Nika Melia, leader of Georgia’s largest opposition party, the United National Movement. “We are giving the government 24 hours to take him to a private hospital. If this demand is not met, the whole of Georgia will gather on Monday [Tbilisi] Freedom Square. “
In a statement issued by Saakashvili through his lawyers, the former president states that his health has deteriorated significantly. Doctors said his life was in danger, but the Georgian Ministry of Health rejected the request to take him to hospital.
Prime Minister Heraklion Garibashvili has said Saakashvili will be transferred to a prison hospital “if necessary”, while the Georgian ombudsman said it did not meet medical hospitalization criteria.
Garibashvili recently caused public outrage by saying that the former president had to be detained for refusing to leave politics and that Mikheil Saakashvili had a “right to suicide.”
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