(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Georgia on Monday to allow its jailed former president to go abroad for treatment to safeguard his health.
Mikheil Saakashvili, president of ex-Soviet Georgia from 2004 to 2013, was initially credited with implementing reforms. He was later sentenced to six years in prison on abuse of power, charges his supporters say are politically motivated.
First convicted in absentia in 2018, Saakashvili worked for different Ukrainian governments, including Zelenskiy’s administration, before returning home and being detained in 2021. He has launched a number of hunger strikes and his lawyers want his sentence suspended so he can seek treatment abroad.
“Everyone has probably seen the state of Mikheil Saakashvili’s health. I appeal to the people of Georgia, to the authorities of Georgia,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
“It is necessary to show mercy, especially as Christmas approaches. What is happening to Mikheil now is cruelty. It does not become Georgia. It must be stopped.”
Zelenskiy asked that Saakashvili, 54, be transferred to a medical facility in Ukraine, Europe or the United States.
Saakashvili, who is being treated in a Tbilisi clinic, last week declared a new hunger strike in protest at not being allowed to attend a Tbilisi court hearing by video link.
He called it off hours later after being urged to do so by members of the European Parliament.
The court heard opening arguments from prosecutors before it adjourned until Dec. 22.
Georgian authorities say Saakashvili is “simulating” the seriousness of his condition to try to secure his release. Saakashvili has not been seen in public for months.
The European Union has called reports about Saakashvili’s health “worrying” and called on the government to provide medical care.
Critics, including those in the ruling Georgian Dream party, say he abused his power and lost popular support.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
