Ombudswoman: demanding victim status for Saakashvili grounded

Georgian public advocate Nino Lomjaria says that demanding a victim status for imprisoned former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili for alleged mistreatment in prison is ‘grounded.’ 

Saakashvili’s lawyers officially applied  for the status yesterday. 

Lomjaria says that she needs ‘further evidence’ to also recommend the status. 

“We will try to gain the information from the State Inspector’s Service. If we have access to certain information needed for this, we will say this,” Lomjaria said. 

She has stated that her previous recommendations on the physical and psychological rehabilitation for Saakashvili have not been fulfilled. 

A medical council under the Public Defender’s Office says that the third president may receive the service in Georgia. 

They say that Saakashvili currently has holoneuropathy and visual symptoms, imbalance, weakness, anemia, posttraumatic nervous disorder and depression. 

Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1, 2021, after eight years in political exile.