Decision on Saakashvili's Release Request Revealed

The Tbilisi Court of Appeals has denied the request to release former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on health grounds. Thus, the Appeals Court has upheld the decision of the first instance court.

Saakashvili's attorney, Shalva Khachapuridze, reported that he learned about the decision via a phone call from a judge's assistant. “In other words, they have rejected Saakashvili without even holding court sessions. Georgian judges have confirmed that they are incapacitated. Saakashvili has been deprived of his right to a fair trial, and he is also deprived of his right to life,” Khachapuridze stated to TV Pirveli.

According to him, Saakashvili's defense intends to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Unlike the Appeals Court, the Tbilisi City Court held several hours-long sessions during which local and foreign doctors invited as witnesses by the defense were interrogated. The process lasted about two months.

On February 6, the Tbilisi City Court denied Saakashvili's request for release or a postponement of his punishment due to health reasons. Judge Giorgi Aravadze found the arguments of representatives from the Ministry of Justice's special prison service more convincing, which cast doubt on the diagnoses provided by the experts invited by Saakashvili's defense.

Georgia's Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze, and other state officials have repeatedly claimed that Saakashvili is deliberately not eating and refuses to follow medical advice in order to artificially worsen his health condition to secure his release.