Saakashvili’s lawyer: clinic head exposed penitentiary service’s fault

Shalva Khachapuridze, a lawyer of convicted former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, on Friday said the head of the Vivamedi civilian clinic, where his client has been undergoing treatment since May,  Nino Nadiradze had “exposed the offense” by the special penitentiary service. 

He said in her comments to the media, Nadiradze said Saakashvili’s lawyers had not handed a health report to the clinic over  the  third president, while it had been submitted to the state service to provide it to the clinic shortly. 

“Nadiradze has made a shocking statement. On the first of December, I handed over the report, which is composed of 21 volumes, to the Penitentiary Service. The agency was obliged to hand over these materials to the Vivamed clinic on the next day. The clinic should have already been aware of this and, accordingly, taken measures to save Saakashvili’s life”, Khachapuridze said. 

The lawyer alleged the movie “proved” the authorities were not interested in Saakashvili’s condition. 

On Friday the lawyer also sued justice minister Rati Bregadze for the release of footage on Saakashvili’s condition in the clinic without his client’s consent. 

The minister claimed the decision was aimed at providing the public with “true information” about the condition of the former official, amid the claims of the latter’s entourage he was “on the verge of death” and needed “immediate transportation abroad” for “proper treatment”.