Saakashvili: if US doesn’t come to my defense it’ll be a terrible signal to all pro-Western leaders

‘If the US doesn’t come to my defense it would be a terrible signal to all pro-Western leaders and populations’, Bloomberg has cited arrested former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili as saying. 

 

In his notes sent to Bloomberg, Saakashvili, who has been on hunger strike for 50 days in a Georgian prison, called on the US for help ‘as he warned Georgia was turning away from the pro-Western path he set it on 18 years ago.’ 

 

Bloomberg reports that in his notes, the former president said he had been beaten and dragged across asphalt to orchestrated taunting by inmates while in prison. 

 

“The government refused to move him to a civilian hospital, give him a phone or even let him attend his own trial, Saakashvili wrote,” Bloomberg says. 

 

The US Department of State said yesterday that they are closely following the treatment of former President Mikheil Saakashvili since his arrest in Tbilisi on October 1. 

 

“We urge the Government of Georgia to treat Saakashvili fairly and with dignity, as well as to heed the Public Defender’s recommendations about appropriate treatment. We also strongly urge the Government of Georgia to ensure Mr. Saakashvili is able to attend all court hearings for his pending criminal cases, in line with international law. Mr. Saakashvili has a right to a fair trial, which includes the opportunity to attend court hearings in person should he request to do so,” said the Department of State. 

 

Saakashvili, who is now a citizen of Ukraine, 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, illegal seizure of property, illegal border crossing and others.

 

He says he returned after eight years in political exile to remove the Georgian Dream from power.