TBILISI – Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has described the hunger strike declared by jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as theatrics or masquerade and said that the real reason for Saakashvili’s return to his home country was an attempt to overthrow the authorities.
“Speaking of the masquerade, theatrics demonstrated by Saakashvili in prison, it is well known that this attempt, his show has the sole purpose of moving to a private clinic by hook or by crook. We have made comments before, and I can tell you again that the sole reason why Saakashvili has come to Georgia is to stage a revolution, a revolt, and a provocation he has planned, including the killing of several persons,” Garibashvili told reporters on Oct. 28.
The prime minister said earlier that Saakashvili was hoping for a transfer from prison to a city hospital from where he could be freed by his supporters by force.
Saakashvili, former Georgian president and currently a citizen of Ukraine, secretly arrived in Georgia from Ukraine on Sept. 29. He was detained in Tbilisi on Oct. 1 and is currently being held in a Rustavi prison.
Georgia earlier declared Saakashvili wanted as a person convicted in absentia in several criminal cases and treated as a suspect in some others. The Georgian authorities warned repeatedly that he would be detained immediately after he crossed the border. Saakashvili has described his detention as unlawful and the charges brought against him as falsified.
