Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on a hunger strike at his jail since early October, was taken to a prison hospital today, the country’s penitentiary said.
“In order to prevent the deterioration of Mikheil Saakashvili’s health condition and due to the increased risk to his safety, he was transferred from prison number 12 to the medical facility for prisoners number 18,” they said in a statement.
Saakashvili, 53, was arrested on October 1 after returning to Georgia on the eve of local elections to help the opposition in what he described as a mission to save the country.
He was imprisoned in the city of Rustavi, south of the capital Tbilisi, where a hunger strike began.
He faces up to six years in prison after being sentenced in absentia in 2018 for abuse of power when he was president of the former Soviet republic from 2004 to 2013 – allegations he denies and describes as politically motivated.
President Salome Zurabishvili said last week that Saakashvili had returned with the aim of destabilizing politics in Georgia and that he could never be pardoned.
However, he said that given the strong public interest in his case, he should be recognized as a special detainee and the authorities should take all possible measures “so that the deterioration of his health condition is not used for political exploitation or destabilization”.
Source: AMPE
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Source From: Capital
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