Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged Georgian authorities "to be merciful" and transfer jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is a Ukrainian citizen, to a medical facility abroad given the deteriorating state of his health.
In a video statement late on December 19, Zelenskiy said that with Christmas nearing, "it is the exact time to take this kind of step."
"All most likely could see Mikheil Saakashvili's current state and what his health state is. Therefore, I urge the Georgian people, Georgian authorities -- it is necessary to be merciful.... What is happening with Mikheil now is a humiliation. It is not good for Georgia. It must be stopped," Zelenskiy said.
Saakashvili, who was Georgia’s president from 2004 to 2013, is serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power, a charge that he and his supporters say was politically motivated.
His medical team says his health has worsened significantly since he went to prison in October 2021 and staged repeated hunger strikes to protest his incarceration. He currently is being treated at a Tbilisi clinic, but lawyers have sought to have his sentence suspended so he can be transferred abroad for more intensive care.
In early December, Saakashvili's legal team distributed a medical report that said he had been "poisoned" with heavy metals while in custody and risked dying without proper treatment.
But Georgian officials have raised doubts about how critical the situation is.
On December 14, Georgia's Penitentiary Service released video it said was taken on August 9, October 4, and December 12 showing Saakashvili in a medical facility in Tbilisi. It said this was "proof that his life is not in danger."
Saakashvili's supporters, however, questioned the editing of the videos.
Saakashvili's lawyer, Shalva Khachapuridze, also accused Penitentiary Service officials of committing a criminal offense by releasing the footage without his client's consent.
Saakashvili is currently on trial on separate charges of violently dispersing an anti-government rally in November 2007 and illegal border crossing. He has rejected those charges as well, calling them trumped up.