Georgian court refuses to release imprisoned ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili

A Tbilisi court has dismissed Mikheil Saakashvili’s petition to be released from prison in the Republic of Georgia. Georgia’s former third president has been in custody in his country since the fall of 2021. Saakashvili’s legal team had submitted the pleading in December 2022.

Georgia 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 rapidly in prison, as he went on a series of hunger strikes. Last November, a group of 20 medical experts concluded that he had 10 different medical conditions that are “incompatible with being in prison.”

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

Earlier this month, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry demanded that Georgia “stop tormenting” Saakashvili, who has a Ukrainian citizenship, and return him to Kyiv.