Public advocate briefs president over Saakashvili’s “complicated” health

Georgian public advocate Nino Lomjaria on Wednesday said she had briefed the country’s president Salome Zourabichvili over the health of currently imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili. 

She said that the meeting at the presidential palace took place after her visit to the Vivamedi civilian clinic in Tbilisi, where Saakashvili had been receiving treatment since May. 

“Saakashvili’s condition is more serious than I had imagined and I may get involved in court proceedings to protect his interests”, Lomjaria said. 

The ombudswoman, whose term expires next month, cited the president as saying that she was monitoring Saakashvili’s health and had a contact with a domestic Empathy NGO, which was providing aid to the convicted third president. 

“There is definitely a reason for the postponement of the sentence or exemption from the sentence due to the health condition, we can apply to the relevant agencies with the opinion or recommendation”, Lomjaria said. 

In her previous comments Zourabichvili said she had no plans to pardon Saakashvili, but noted that “I do not want him to die in prison” and said that a court should allow his treatment abroad if a medical report on Saakashvili’s health pointed to “serious complications”. 

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