Kyiv calls on Georgia to ‘stop tormenting’ imprisoned ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili and return him to Ukraine

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has called on the Republic of Georgia to return the imprisoned politician Mikheil Saakashvili to Ukraine.

Saakashvili, Georgia’s third president, has a Ukrainian citizenship, but has been in custody in Georgia since illegally crossing the border in the fall of 2021. Recently, he was transferred from his prison to a hospital, and is reportedly in intensive care.

In an official statement, Kyiv accused Georgia of acting “in the worst traditions of the Soviet NKVD,”

subjecting Mikheil Saakashvili to psychological and physical pressure, denying him the urgently necessary medical help, and deliberately creating an immediate threat to his life.

The Ukrainian ministry called on Georgian authorities to “stop tormenting” Saakashvili, pointing out that his situation signals a “folding of democracy” in the republic. The ministry also appealed to other countries to take a position in support of Saakashvili.

Georgia had sentenced Mikheil Saakashvili to three years in prison on charges of complicity in the murder of the banker Sandro Girgvliani in 2006. He was sentenced to another six years in connection with allegedly organizing the attack on the politician Valeriy Gelashvili in 2005. Both sentences were issued in absentia.

Saakashvili’s health declined as he went on a series of hunger strikes while in prison. In November 2022, a group of medical experts concluded that he had 10 different medical conditions that are “incompatible with being in prison.”

On January 31, Saakashvili’s legal team reported that he had been moved to an intensive care unit in critical condition.