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Freedom to Mikheil Saakashvili

Monthly Newsletter | November 2023

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Latest Developments

  • Saakashvili appeared at a court hearing via video link | 27 October 2023

  • ALDE urgent resolution calls on the Georgian authorities to transfer Saakashvili abroad | 21 October 2023

  • Police cordon off Ivanishvili home village amid UNM rally | 19 October 2023

  • Saakashvili to Pashinyan: “You must immediately sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan” | 18 October 2023

  • Dictators exploit America’s distraction | 13 October 2023

  • Another Georgian official failed to declare a valuable property | 6 October 2023

  • Georgian Dream pass new anti-protest amendments | 5 October 2023

  • The imperative for stricter EU conditionalities for Georgia | 5 October 2023

  • Georgia: Government targets a youth group | 4 October 2023

  • FT: Georgia’s reluctance to move against Russian agent tests its allegiance to west | 1 October 2023

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Rally held in support of freeing Mikheil Saakashvili in Kutaisi, Georgia on16 September 2023. Photo Credit: UNM

Political Persecution of Mr. Saakashvili

The steady deterioration of Mr. Saakashvili’s health has resulted in “severe sarcopenia, and severe stage 4 cachexia”, a complex syndrome associated with an underlying illness, causing ongoing muscle loss. A group of medical doctors convened by the Public Defender of Georgia assessed that Mr. Saakashvili’s condition has further deteriorated and warned about possible grave complications. According to the doctors, Mr. Saakashvili has lost half of his weight while in prison, and if he continues to lose weight, “irreversible changes in the body will begin”, which could leave him permanently disabled or even dead. Mr. Saakashvili’s condition has been exacerbated by his repeated hunger strikes in protest against his politically motivated incarceration. Georgian authorities have refused to allow for his transfer abroad despite recommendations of the Public Defender and medics triggering fears of a tragic outcome. 

 

President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, President Macron of France, President Sandu of Moldova, and the former Prime Minister of Belgium PM Verhofstadt, have called on the Georgian authorities to free Mr. Saakashvili. The European Parliament approved by an overwhelming vote a resolution calling for Mr. Saakashvili’s release. It warned that his case was a litmus test for the Georgian government’s commitment to European values. 27 EU member states diplomatically demarched to the Georgian government regarding Mr. Saakashvili’s deteriorating health. Prime Minister of Poland Morawiecki issued a proposal for Mr. Saakashvili to be treated in Poland. US Department of State urged the government of Georgia to “heed the Public Defender’s recommendations about appropriate treatment”. Ukraine expelled the Georgian ambassador and called on the Georgian authorities to put "an end to these abuses and [allow] Saakashvili's return to Ukraine”. 

 

Upon his return to Georgia after eight years in exile, Mr. Saakashvili was arrested on 1 October 2021. His mistreatment in various prison facilities has been sharply criticized by local and international human rights groups. Mr. Saakashvili has reportedly been tortured in custody. While the authorities deny the accusation in one instance they released a video  showing prison guards dragging Mr. Saakashvili by his limbs. Amnesty International assessed that Mr. Saakashvili’s treatment by authorities was “not just selective justice but apparent political revenge”. Reacting to the circumstances of Mr. Saakashvili’s forceful transfer to yet another prison facility, Human Rights Watch stated that it could be interpreted as "a forced treatment” and noted that Mr. Saakashvili was “violently transferred to the prison hospital, allegedly threatened; denied dignity, privacy, and adequate healthcare”.  

 

Mr. Saakashvili has been convicted in absentia for alleged abuse of power. Additionally, he is under trial for separate charges related to the dispersal of an anti-government rally in 2007 and illegal border crossing in 2021. The charges against him are widely viewed as a “political revenge”. In 2020, after the exhaustion of domestic remedies, the cases were referred to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, alleging violations of the right to a fair trial, “no punishment without law”, and “limitation on use of restrictions on rights” under Article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights 

 

After six months of procrastination, the Georgian authorities finally allowed on 13 July 2023 the Polish doctors to see Mr. Saakashvili in the hospital. Prime Minister of Poland Morawiecki announced: "We do not leave friends in need. At my request, a team of Polish doctors [...] began a comprehensive medical examination of President Mikheil Saakashvili in Georgia." 

International & Domestic Reaction

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds images of Mr. Saakashvili taken in prison. 1 February 2023. Photo credit: Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP

  • It breaks my heart to see how Saakashvili is being treated in prison: President Bush | 4 September 2023

  • The Economist: Saakashvili on the lessons from Georgia | 1 September 2023

  • I remain profoundly concerned about Georgia's ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili and his worsening health - the Georgian government MUST take action now to protect his life: Kerry Kennedy | 11 September 2023

  • Saakashvili launches public campaign | 25 August 2023

  • Saakashvili blames crisis on Russia | 25 August 2023

  • Hertling: Saakashvili on Obama’s “pivot to Asia” | 24 August 2023

  • Whatever happens in Ukraine, Moscow has Georgia captured | 16 August 2023

  • Fifteen years ago this week, Putin invaded Georgia | 11 August 2023

  • Doctor’s team: Saakashvili's health deteriorating | 10 August 2023

  • Azerbaijan’s support to Georgia during Russia’s invasion in 2008 was important: Saakashvili | 8 August 2023

  • I'm a Georgian political prisoner. My death means embracing the Kremlin: Saakashvili | 8 August 2023

  • Georgia’s EU dreams live or die with Mikheil Saakashvili: Politico | 30 July 2023

  • Saakashvili: "I feel in danger" | 26 July 2023

  • State Department is concerned over Saakashvili's health | 24 July 2023

  • "I was disregarded": Saakashvili | 18 July 2013

  • “I warned West about Putin”: Saakashvili | 17 July 2023

  • 44 MEPs call on Georgian authorities to release Saakashvili | 13 July 2023

  • "NATO must admit Ukraine": Saakashvili to The Guardian | 12 July 2023

  • "We do not leave friends in need… At my request, a team of Polish doctors... started a comprehensive medical examination of President Saakashvili in Georgia”: Prime-Minister of Poland Morawiecki | 12 July 2023

  • Saakashvili deserves U.S. attention: The Wall Street Journal | 8 July 2023

  • Saakashvili's health leads to renewed tensions between Kyiv and Tbilisi | 7 July 2023

  • Saakashvili's health triggers diplomatic row with Ukraine: Le Monde | 5 July 2023

  • President Zelenskyy accuses Russia of trying to kill Saakashvili: The New York Times | 3 July 2023

  • "Russia is killing Saakashvili at the hands of the Georgian authorities": Zelenskyy requests the Georgian ambassador to leave Ukraine within 48 hours | 3 July 2023

  • President of Moldova urges Georgian authorities to allow Saakashvili's medical treatment abroad | 4 July 2023

  • Bill Browder: "Georgia’s mistreatment of Saakashvili is a shocking human rights abuse and those responsible should be subject to Magnitsky sanctions" | 3 July 2023

American Georgians for Progress has launched this publication as part of its efforts to free former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, and achieve his transfer abroad for medical treatment.

 

Mr. Saakashvili who is recognized as a political prisoner, urgently needs to be provided with complex neuro-psychological and physical treatment.

 

By sharing this newsletter with journalists, human rights activists, legislative authorities, business leaders, and government officials, you will join a chorus of voices worldwide demanding an unconditional release of Mr. Saakashvili and his transfer for treatment abroad.

 

An urgent action is needed to secure freedom for Mr. Saakashvili.

 

The time for action is now!

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