For lack of being able to participate in his hearing for his request for release for health reasons, the former Georgian President Mikheïl Saakashvili, currently imprisoned in a hospital following poisoning, “started a hunger strike, claiming to be authorized to participate in the hearings by videoconference ”, we learn from his lawyer Dito Sadzaglichvili.
At the age of 54, Mikheil Saakashvili, who is also the leader of the opposition in this Caucasian country, was transferred to the hospital at the end of last year, after a hunger strike of 50 days observed to protest against his incarceration for “abuse of power”, which he denounces as being political. Last week, the former Georgian leader’s legal team released a medical report claiming Mikheil Saakashvili was “poisoned” with heavy metals in Georgia prison and faces death if not treated properly.
Harmful medical treatment without proper supervision
In a report made public by his lawyers, the American toxicologist David Smith affirms that “tests have revealed the presence of heavy metals” in the body of the former head of state and that the symptoms he presents “are the result of heavy metal poisoning”. According to the authors of this report dated November 28, the person concerned is receiving medical treatment that is harmful to him without appropriate supervision.
Mikheil Saakashvili’s lawyers asked the court to release him on health grounds, but the court hearing supposed to consider this request was postponed on Wednesday after the authorities failed to organize a videoconference with the hospital.
At the head of Georgia from 2004 to 2013, Mikheil Saakashvili was imprisoned in October 2021 upon his return to Georgia after an exile of several years, while he was wanted by the Georgian justice.