European Union member states have issued a formal diplomatic warning to Georgia's leaders over the deteriorating health of jailed former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
All 27 EU member states agreed to the diplomatic demarche presented to the Georgian justice minister, EU Ambassador to Georgia Pawel Herczynski told journalists on February 27.
"We are very concerned about reports of his deteriorating health," Herczynski said.
Giorgi Volski, first vice speaker of the parliament, responded to the demarche, suggesting EU member states address Saakashvili's entourage over a strategy that he said is "keeping Saakashvili in such a state, taking Saakashvili hostage, and speculating about his health."
This "reality" should be seriously discussed by the European Union, its representatives, and MPs, Volski said.
Volski also questioned what influence the demarche would have on the Georgian justice system, which "sees the actual situation and makes appropriate decisions," adding that "the position of the court is objective, fair, and correct."
The 55-year-old Saakashvili last week said there was a widening plot by officials and others to "murder" him and appealed for his country and the world to prevent "this criminal corporation" from carrying out "their evil intentions."
Saakashvili, who was Georgia’s president from 2004 to 2013, is serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power that he and supporters call politically motivated. He has been in hospital for several months after refusing food to protest his detention.
Georgian officials have consistently raised doubts about how critical his health situation is.
Judge Giorgi Arevadze last week rejected Saakashvili's request to suspend his sentence, a move Saakashvili called a "death sentence" handed to him by his political opponents.
"We are in the final stages of my murder special operation and it involves 'parliamentarians,' 'journalists' [and] now the clinic," Saakashvili said on Facebook on February 22. "I appeal to Georgia and the world, Do not allow this criminal corporation to carry out their evil intentions."
Giorgi Grigolia, a member of a council of doctors set up by Georgia's rights ombudsman, said separately on February 27 that Saakashvili, who once weighed 115 kilograms, had lost more than 50 kilograms since his imprisonment in 2021 and that he "isn't receiving proper medical treatment."
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said that Poland is ready to receive Saakashvili, who holds Ukrainian citizenship, for treatment. According to media reports, Poland's proposal was supported by all EU countries except Hungary, but European diplomats said they were doing everything to convince Budapest to change its position.
Georgian lawmakers have also appealed to President Salome Zurabishvili to pardon Saakashvili.