Mikheil Saakashvili’s lawyer, Beka Basilaia, says the condition of the former president of Georgia in Rustavi Prison is worsening due to his hunger strike.
“Saakashvili’s hunger strike is entering a very difficult phase. We can clearly see the consequences, he has problems with movement and his legs are swollen,” the lawyer said after visiting the third president in prison.
According to Basilaia, Mikheil Saakashvili’s hunger strike will lead to further deterioration in health and today he is already facing problems.
“It is important to give Saakashvili’s personal doctor Nikoloz Kipshidze the opportunity to visit him, which is vital. The personal doctor knows best what he may need,” the lawyer added.
Despite the deterioration of his health, Saakashvili says he will not stop the hunger strike. As he says in an appeal, which was introduced to the public by his lawyer, Dimitri Sadzaglishvili, the rally scheduled for October 14 on Rustaveli Avenue should be large-scale. In the appeal, the former president notes that the hunger strike is “one of the tools of his struggle.”
Mikheil Saakashvili has been on hunger strike as a form of protest against the current political regime in Georgia since the day of his arrest in Tbilisi on October 1. His party members and supporters are planning to gather on Rustaveli Avenue on October 14 and organize a rally demanding his release, as they believe that he is a political prisoner of the ruling party Georgian Dream and its founder Bidzina Ivanishvili.
By Ana Dumbadze
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