Ombudsperson: ‘no breaches’ reported in terms of Saakashvili’s prison conditions

Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria says that Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was detained in Tbilisi on October 1, is receiving proper service in prison and that ‘no breaches’ have been observed by her employees in terms of Saakashvili’s living conditions.

However, Lomjaria criticized the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia for releasing such personal information on Saakashvili as is his blood pressure, pulse, saturation and glucose, ‘despite high public interest in the issue.’

She said that the Public Defender’s Office has been monitoring Saakashvili’s conditions in Rustavi Prison No.12, including his health, since his detention.

“We are in active communications with the medical personnel on Saakashvili’s health condition (who has been on hunger strike since October 1),” Lomjaria said. 

Saakashvili left Georgia in 2013, shortly after the Georgian Dream coalition defeated his United National Movement in the 2012 parliamentary race. 

Saakashvili claimed he returned after eight years in political exile to mobilize his United National Movement opposition party’s supporters and ‘save the country from the rule of the Georgian Dream which serves Russian interests.’ 

Saakashvili was convicted for abuse of authority back in 2018 and sentenced to six years in prison in absentia. He has also been charged with four other cases, which are ongoing.