Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky: Mikheil Saakashvili is publicly tortured by the Georgian authorities

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky during a joint press conference with the president Austria Alexander van der Bellen said on Wednesday that he believed the former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashviliserving a prison sentence in Tbilisi, is publicly tortured by the authorities Georgia. The President of Ukraine showed photos of Saakashvili staying in the hospital.

– This is public torture of a citizen of Ukraine. I do not discuss why the former Georgian president was arrested, what are the consequences for politics and democracy in Georgia. This is their internal affair. I am talking about the arrest of a Ukrainian citizen, Mikheil Saakashvili, who is publicly tortured every day. I think their goal is to kill him,” Zelensky said.

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Earlier on Wednesday, the Ukrainian spokesman human rights Dmytro Łubinets appealed to the Georgian authorities to let him see Saakashvili, who – as he reminded – has Ukrainian citizenship. “The former president of Georgia, now a citizen of Ukraine, Mikheil Saakashvili, is in critical condition,” Lubinec wrote on Facebook. As he added, “the whole world is watching the deterioration of the former president’s condition. Saakashvili’s associates said on Tuesday that “the former president’s condition is critical.” The hospital authorities deny this and prevented him from being transferred to the intensive care unit. Saakashvili is serving a six-year prison sentence for abuse of power, which he and his supporters see as a politically motivated punishment. He was detained in autumn 2021 after returning from Ukraine. During his stay in Ukraine, he held government functions and obtained citizenship of this country.