Several thousand people demonstrated in front of the prison in support of the former president and for his transfer to a civilian hospital. Thousands of Saakashvili’s supporters gathered in central Tbilisi tonight, up from 40,000, according to AFP.
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“A mass and permanent protest movement is starting in Georgia, which will not end until Mikhail Saakashvili is released and early elections are held,” said opposition United National Movement (UNM) leader Nika Melia, who also organized Saturday’s demonstration in front of the prison. Saakashvili has been imprisoned since the beginning of October and was arrested after returning to his homeland from Ukrainian exile to support the opposition before the municipal elections. The ruling party won the Georgian Dream.
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Melia called for the demonstrations to continue until Saakashvili was taken to a civilian hospital, released from prison and new elections. Another demonstration in front of the Ministry of Justice is scheduled for Tuesday. “From now on, our home will be Freedom Square, the main street and the main square in the country, which will lead us to victory,” Melia said today.
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“In order to prevent the deterioration of Mikhail Saakashvili’s health, and due to the increased risk to his safety, he was transferred from prison number 12 to a medical facility for detained number 18,” AFP was quoted as saying by the prison service.
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Information about the deteriorating health of the 53-year-old former president appeared in the media last week. His lawyer said that Saakashvili’s condition had visibly deteriorated and that he had memory problems. He had to be urgently treated by an intensive care physician in prison two weeks ago, after which the medics gave him a blood transfusion, and his doctor then stated that he was in a stable condition. Georgian ombudsman Nino Lomjaria said the prison hospital did not meet medical criteria, AFP said.
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Saakashvili’s pro-Western politician led Georgia from 2004 to 2013 and traveled from his homeland a few days before his term expired. In Georgia, he was later sentenced in absentia to three years in prison for the 2006 murder of an employee of a Georgian bank and later to six years in prison for concealment and concealment of evidence in a physical assault by a Georgian MP in 2005. Saakashvili denies charges and calls them politically motivated.
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Last month, on October 20, the ex-president was also accused of illegal border crossing, the TASS agency reported today. She also reminded that Saakashvili also has Ukrainian citizenship. Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has recently provoked a stir, saying Saakashvili “has the right to commit suicide” and that the government has been forced to arrest him for refusing to leave politics, the AFP said.
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Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has previously said that Saakashvili has returned to his homeland to destabilize the local political scene and has refused to pardon him.
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