TBILISI – Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been arrested and put in prison in Georgia, is not planning to end his hunger strike, which he has kept for 15 days now, and the major opposition rally on October 14 has invigorated him, Yelyzaveta Yasko, a Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada deputy and Saakashvili’s girlfriend, said after visiting him at the Rustavi prison on October 15.
“The multi-thousand demonstration in Tbilisi yesterday has given a lot of strength to him. He is in good spirits. I personally would like to say that he shouldn’t be starving and shouldn’t be in jail. I know how much he left behind in Kyiv, a very comfortable life,” Yasko told journalists.
Saakashvili has come to Georgia because “he loves the Georgian people very much,” Yasko said. “It’s very important for us to do everything possible for his liberation now,” she said.
Several days ago, Saakashvili and Yasko posted a video online to announce their relationship.
“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.
Meanwhile, no media have ever reported that Saakashvili has divorced his wife Sandra Roelofs.
Saakashvili, former Georgian president and currently a citizen of Ukraine, secretly arrived in Georgia from Ukraine on September 29. He was detained in Tbilisi on October 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. He has declared a hunger strike.
Thousands of supporters of the Georgian opposition party United National Movement gathered on Freedom Square in Tbilisi on October 14 to demand that Saakashvili be freed from prison. Nikanor Melia, chairman of the party, said addressing the demonstrators, “What is most important now is to mobilize all opposition forces for the second round of the local elections on October 30.”
