Giorgi Chaladze, a member of the United National Movement opposition party who chairs a staff for the release of the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, on Monday accused Justice Minister Rati Bregadze of “lying”, following his comments that the former official’s family had made “no official requests” over the engagement of foreign medical professionals in his treatment. 

In his comments early on Monday, the minister claimed the government had received no such requests since his office in November 2022 offered Saakashvili’s family to invite foreign professionals to monitor his health. 

Chaladze said the minister had “lied” and there was an “official request” for the involvement of foreign doctors, reiterating that the Georgian government was “preventing” the Polish medical group from visiting the former president in the Tbilisi clinic. 

Saakashvili, who currently holds Ukrainian citizenship, was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021 after eight years in political exile and is now serving his six-year sentence for abuse of power while in office. 

The former official has been receiving treatment in the Vivamedi civilian clinic in Tbilisi since May 2022, with domestic courts rejecting his appeal in February and March to grant his release on medical grounds or the postponement of the rest of his sentence.