Ruling party head: conclusion offered by Ombudswoman’s medical panel on Saakashvili’s health ‘fake’

Head of the ruling Georgian Dream party Irakli Kobakhidze has accused Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria of being biased and stated that the recent concussion of the medical panel invited by Lomjaria on Saakashvili’s health is ‘fake.’ 

Kobakhidze said that if Saakashvili is taken to a civilian hospital ‘based on such fake’ conclusions, and if the transfer leads to unrest, Lomjaria will be held accountable for this. 

The panel of medical experts stated yesterday that Saakashvili’s health condition on the 49th day of hunger strike is critical and he needs an ‘immediate transfer’ to a civil hospital. 

Kobakhidze says that if Saakashvili is brought to a civil clinic, the opposition supporters may cause unrest there which may pose threats to Saakashvili’s life and health. 

Saakashvili was convicted in Georgia in absentia back in 2018 for abuse of power and was sentenced to six years in prison. 

He has also been charged with five other offences, including embezzlement, abuse of authority, illegal rally dispersal, illegal seizure of property and illegally crossing the border. 

The former president, who is now a citizen of Ukraine, claims that he returned after eight years in political exile to remove the Georgian Dream from power.