Ukrainian lawyer: I saw different Saakashvili in Gori hospital

Georgian former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s Ukrainian lawyer Evgen Grushovets says that Saakashvili he knew in Ukraine and the former president he saw in Gori hospital after 50-day hunger strike ‘differed much.’ Grushovets says that ‘in the condition Saakashvili is now he will not be able to properly defend himself’ in the trial hearings concerning him in Georgia. 

He says that Saakashvili needs time for rehabilitation and that he has doubts that Gori military hospital is not equipped well to provide proper medical care for the former president.

Saakashvili’s mother Giuli Alasania also stated today that his son is in a poor condition and urged the public to free him from prison. 

A state medical council, which has been supervising Saakashvili health in prison and on hunger strike, says that the rehabilitation process goes on well. 

Saakashvili called off his hunger strike last week. 

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

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