Former President of Georgia Saakashvili has moved to a prison hospital | Story

Saakashvili, 53, was transferred to a prison hospital five weeks after declaring a hunger strike, authorities say.

Former Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili has been transferred to a prison hospital, just five weeks after he announced his intention to eat.

Saakashvili, 53, was arrested on October 1 this year after he returned to Georgia on the eve of local elections to meet with opposition protesters, which he described as a task to save the country.

“In order to prevent further deterioration of Mikheil Saakashvili’s health and as a result of increased security, he was transferred from prison number 12 to hospital number 18 for inmates,” the Georgia prison department said. Monday.

The announcement came as his aides were preparing to gather in Tbilisi to be admitted to a private hospital – as advised by medical staff – not to a prison hospital.

Earlier on Monday, doctors who tested Saakashvili said they were “at high risk of serious complications and needed immediate medical attention …

Georgia Ombudswoman Nino Lomjaria said the prison hospital had failed to meet doctors’ requirements.

Saakashvili was detained in the town of Rustavi, south of the capital Tbilisi.

He has refused food for 39 days in protest of his arrest, which he says is politically motivated.

He has been in prison for six years after being found not guilty of misusing his position in 2018 during his presidency of the former Soviet Republic from 2004 to 2013 – charges he has denied on political grounds.

President Salome Zourabichvili said last week Saakashvili had returned to disrupt Georgia’s politics and that he could not be pardoned.

But he said because of the public interest in his case, he should be recognized as a special prisoner and the government should do everything in its power “so that the deterioration of his health is not politically motivated or disruptive”.

Saakashvili’s lawyer had no immediate comment on his transfer.