Levan Ioseliani, the newly elected public defender of Georgia, on Thursday said the country’s imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili should not be transferred to prison from a civilian clinic if the move could further worsen his health. 

The Tbilisi Vivamedi  clinic, where Saakashvili has been receiving treatment since May 2022, on Wednesday addressed the country’s penitentiary service to evaluate the needs of the former president’s stay in the clinic. 

The clinic administration claimed Saakashvili refused to follow the doctors’ instructions, with the former official’s mother rejecting the claims. 

She said the country’s government had plans to return his son to prison.