TBILISI – The health of jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has worsened, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova, who visited Saakashvili in prison, told reporters on Oct. 27.
“Saakashvili is getting weaker day after day. He has experienced four crises over the period of his incarceration. He receives minimal medical attention at the Rustavi prison, however, the penitentiary is incapable of giving serious aid. Saakashvili does not want to be transferred to the prison infirmary. He said that would not be safe for him,” Denisova said.
An ICU doctor will start monitoring Saakashvili’s condition on Oct. 28, Denisova said. “We hope that the Georgian authorities will allow our doctor to meet with Saakashvili,” she said.
Saakashvili, 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. Saakashvili has described his detention as unlawful and the charges brought against him as falsified.
