Saakashvili in critical condition. Zelensky: I think the Georgian government wants to kill him

– I think what the Georgian government is doing today is killing him (Saakashvili – ed.). They poisoned him, and now they are killing him gradually, I’m sorry,” Zelensky said at a press conference with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen in Kiev.

— Georgia, its leadership – who are they today? Are they neutral or are they for Russia? Because Russia treats its politicians in the same way as the Georgian leadership today treats not its politicians but the citizens of Ukraine. So again: Are they neutral? Are they for Russia? the president of Ukraine asked at the same meeting.

Zelensky noted that “he would like the press to see that what is happening to Saakashvili is public torture of a citizen of Ukraine.”

— I do not raise the issue of why the former president of Georgia was arrested, what are the consequences for Georgia’s politics and democracy. This is their inner question. I am talking about the arrest of a Ukrainian citizen, Mikheil Saakashvili, who is publicly tortured every day. And I think their goal is to kill him,” Zelensky concluded.

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been prevented from being transferred to an intensive care unit, his medical team said on Tuesday. Saakashvili, who is in prison for abuse of power, is in a “life-threatening” condition, and doctors say he needs urgent treatment.

Earlier on Tuesday, former president Giorgi Chaladze’s spokesman said that Saakashvili would be transferred to an intensive care unit because his health had deteriorated significantly. However, the transport was blocked at the last minute.

IRAKLI GEDENIDZE / POOL / PAP

M. Saakashvili in 2021

“He is in a life-threatening condition and needs intensive care. His immune system is failing. Yesterday’s blood tests showed that he has zero immunity. Even a person who sneezes near him can make him sick, said Chaładze.

In his opinion, the authorities are blocking Saakashvili’s transfer to the intensive care unit because it could “provide a legal basis for his release.”

“If we were in Munich, Istanbul, Kiev or anywhere else, even in Georgia, if he wasn’t a political prisoner, he would normally be transferred to the ICU,” Chaładze said.

Saakashvili was detained in autumn 2021, after returning from Ukraine. During his stay in Ukraine, he held government functions and obtained citizenship of this country. He stayed in Georgia sentenced to six years in prison for abuse of power in the years 2004-2013, when he was president.

Source: Interfax, NEXTA, Onet