Head of the domestic Empathy centre, ensuring aid to currently imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, Marian Jishkariani, on Friday said that the former official is intoxicated per the conclusion received from the United States with the use of the strand of hair. 

She suggested that the conclusion had been included in the large report on Saakashvili’s health drafted by her organization, with the involvement of foreign medical professionals. 

"The commission of experts has reached a conclusion, and it already states that, most likely, we are dealing with intoxication, i.e. damage to human health by poisonous substances. His health condition is severe in the direction of many organ systems, it is neurotoxicity, or other general intoxication that causes imitation of various diseases. Therefore, in order to save his life and safety, Saakashvili needs to be immediately taken to Germany for treatment”, Jishkariani said. 

Saakashvili’s lawyer Valeri Gelbakhiani said earlier this week that his client was intoxicated. However, Saakashvili said he had never suspected that and thanked the medical personnel of the Vivamedi civilian clinic in Tbilisi, where he has been receiving treatment since May. 

The former president was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021, after eight years in political exile.