Ex-PM Garibashvili ‘begging not to be killed’, ex-Pres Saakashvili

Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili has described the situation inside the prison where he is serving his sentence as resembling “Flying Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” making a series of mocking and unverified claims about fellow inmates, including former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.

In a social media post Friday, Saakashvili claimed that Garibashvili is “begging Ivanishvili from his cell not to be killed” and alleged that his family members are not being allowed to visit him. He also said Garibashvili “regrets” abolishing the position of Public Defender’s office official Londa Toloraia and wishes that Nino Lomjaria, rather than Levan Ioseliani, were serving as Public Defender.

Saakashvili also made claims about former State Security Service head Grigol Liluashvili, saying he is frightened because he allegedly knows how “heavy-metal poison” could be mixed into food in the prison building. 

He further referred to opposition leader Paata Burchuladze, claiming that Burchuladze praises him to prison staff and calls him a “genius” and Georgia’s best-ever leader.

Saakashvili also mocked opposition politician Nikanor Melia, alleging that Melia insults him whenever they pass each other in the prison corridor.

Describing his own life in prison, Saakashvili said he has turned himself into a “political information officer,” claiming that every other evening he climbs onto a chair by his cell window and lectures prison guards and inmates from a neighboring building about Georgia-Russia relations.

He concluded the post by comparing the prison environment to a scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, referring to what he described as the frequent presence of a psychiatrist and adding that the prison has allegedly been without water for three days.