Trial hearing postponed on embezzlement case due to ex-Pres. Saakashvili’s health

Due to the health condition of convicted ex-president of Georgia,  Mikheil Saakashvili, which was scheduled on Monday on embezzlement of state funds case, will take place on August 1 due to the health of Saakashvili, who is currently undergoing treatment in a civian clinic in Tbilisi.

 

Judge Badri Kochlamazashvili said on July 11 that he had offered the defendant to personally participate in the hearing or online.

 

However, the letter received from the Vivamedi clinic, where Saakashvili is placed, read that  considering the latter’s condition, it was better for him not to participate in the court session.

 

Saakashvili has been unable to attend criminal cases pending in the court for more than two months due to his health.

 

He was transferred to Vivamedi clinic for treatment, per the offer of the country’s Justice Ministry,  on May 12.

 

However, his family and the United National Movement party members said that the third president could not receive proper treatment and demanded his transfer abroad.

 

Saakashvili, a citizen of Ukraine, who was sentenced to six years in prison for two cases back in 2018 in absentia, returned to Georgia at the end of September 2021.

 

He was arrested on October 1, the day before Georgia’s municipal elections.

 

On the day of his arrest, he went on a hunger strike.

 

Due to complications in his health, on the 50th day of the hunger strike, on November 19, Saakashvili agreed to end the protest if he was taken to the Gori Military Hospital for treatment.

 

Saakashvili was returned to Rustavi prison from Gori Military Hospital on December 30.

 

Later he was transferred to the Vivamedi clinic.

 

The Georgian Dream authorities said that the former President was receiving all services he needed.