Georgia: Salome Zourabichvili, President of Georgia, has accepted the proposal by the country’s Justice Ministry to transfer the third Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili, to a Vivamedi clinic for medical examination and treatment on Tuesday, April 10.
According to the Presidential Administration, Zourabichvili believes “all efforts” must be made to guarantee the former President’s health, emphasising the necessity of clearing doubts about the problem “both in society and from European partners.”
“It is a subject of the nation’s prestige and image, which demands transparency, great care and monitoring so that there is no danger and Saakashvili’s health is protected as much as possible,” the statement reads.
Moreover, Rati Bregadze, the Justice Minister of Georgia, gave a statement yesterday that Saakashvili would be transferred to Vivamedi, a civilian facility in Tbilisi, adding that the former President had received “adequate treatment” in jail but refused to follow the advice and take the full complement of medicines.
Before agreeing to the transfer of his Medical treatment to Vivamedi, Saakashvili has set a number of conditions, including ensuring permanent access to him for family members, his personal physician Nikoloz Kipshidze, and members of an Empathy non-governmental organisation commission set up to monitor his condition, as well as lawyers and members of Parliament.
Saakashvili has also requested that the Empathy Centre be included in his health examination and treatment, along with members of the Public Defender’s Medical Council, which was established for the same purpose.
According to a report by the Council, which was formed by the country’s Public Defender, the imprisoned former President developed anorexia and was deficient in proteins as a result of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in late April, and he needed “timely, complex neuro-psychological and physical rehabilitation.”
Saakashvili, who currently holds Ukrainian passport, is serving a term for abuse of authority emanating from his tenure as President. He was apprehended after his clandestine return to Georgia in October last year, just before the 2021 local elections.
