TBILISI – Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has said that now he has fully focused on his struggle, continues his hunger strike at a prison in the Georgian city of Rustavi, and intends to “bring this matter to an end.”
He posted about this on Facebook on October 10.
Saakashvili added that he has ended his previous personal relationship and is now happy in relations with Yelyzaveta Yasko, a deputy of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, with whom he has been living for several months.
“At the moment I am involved in a much more important struggle than my personal life. However, since this part of my life is also an area of interest and a number of questions were asked on this topic, I want to answer you that all my past relationships are over. Liza and I tied our lives a long time ago and for many months, we have been living together as full partners. This is a story of great love, and I feel like a happy person,” the former Georgian president said.
In his address, Saakashvili also mentioned his official wife, Sandra Roelofs, urging everyone to show respect for her. “I ask people to respect our personal life, as well as the personal life of Sandra, whom I treat with kindness, respect, and I’m grateful for an incredible life together,” Saakashvili said.
Saakashvili’s post on Facebook social media was unexpected for many in Georgia, since, according to representatives of the Georgian Penitentiary Service, he has earlier been deprived not only of the internet but also of the possibility of making phone calls in a prison cell, local media said.
Meanwhile, as previously reported, Saakashvili, who went on a hunger strike, began to take honey and natural juices in a prison cell. “Last Monday, Saakashvili was issued a prison bank card, with which he had access in a local store to purchase, upon request, various products, including natural juices and honey. As far as I know, he has already received several honey pots and several liters of natural juices in his cell. Saakashvili started taking them, which actually means that one way or another his body is not on the verge of exhaustion,” Georgian Penitentiary Service chief Nika Tskhvariashvili told reporters last Friday.
The former Georgian president and now a Ukrainian citizen, Saakashvili, secretly arrived from Ukraine to Georgia on September 29. On October 1, he was detained in Tbilisi. Saakashvili is currently in a prison in the city of Rustavi.
Saakashvili is involved in several criminal cases in Georgia. Representatives of the Georgian authorities reiterated on many occasions that they would detain him as soon as he crosses the border. Saakashvili views his arrest as illegal and the charges against him as falsified. He went on a hunger strike.
