Video: Footage Released Showing Saakashvili Moving Independently
The Georgian prison service has released new footage showing the country's third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, moving independently in a hospital room. Earlier, social media and even American CNN had circulated footage from October 6, 2022, in which Saakashvili fell and was unable to rise on his own.
Now, the special prison service has released footage from December 2022 and February 2023 in which Saakashvili is seen walking and interacting with a doctor, occasionally using a walker for assistance. The agency has urged an end to speculations about the topic and to refrain from disseminating misleading partial information.
He has been sentenced to six years in prison for the murder of a banker and for assaulting a member of parliament. The political figure is also accused of illegally crossing the border, embezzling state funds, and dispersing an opposition rally in 2007.
Saakashvili has spent less than half a year in a cell overall; he was moved to a prison clinic, then to a military hospital, and is currently at the Vivamed clinic. The Tbilisi City Court rejected Saakashvili's request for release from punishment on health grounds on February 6.
It should be noted that American CNN had aired footage featuring Saakashvili at the Vivamed clinic, where he appeared to be struggling to walk and fell multiple times out of bed.