A massive appeal to the Georgian authorities will release Saakashvili for treatment

Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny, who is serving a long term in a prison in the Vladimir region, appealed to the authorities in Georgia in connection with the imprisonment of ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili.

“Saakashvili is very sick, and all the talk about simulation is nonsense. Believe me, the prison sucks the health out of everyone and with great speed. Let him be released for treatment with a suspended sentence or do something like that, which will allow the parties to comply with the law and save face – this it would be the most correct,” says the text that appeared on Navalny’s social networks on Thursday.

Alexei Navalny notes that he does not know and has never met Saakashvili. He also writes that “to his shame, he represents Georgian politics rather poorly, but he decided to write as a man and a Christian”, because it is difficult for him to look at the situation with Mikhail Saakashvili.

“This conclusion and torture of the former president is terrible and heartless. It affects European elections, it affects development, it reduces the chances of a normal future. It reduces morale and fills the country with malice,” writes Navalny. He believes that the situation with the persecution of Saakashvili has reached an impasse because “everyone wants to save face.” “But the government should be more merciful than its opponents,” Navalny emphasizes.

Mikhail Saakashvili has been in custody since the fall of 2021, when he illegally crossed the border and returned to Georgia. Since October of the same year, the ex-president has been serving a six-year term on charges of organizing the 2005 beating of opposition deputy Valery Gelashvili by special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In a column for Politico earlier in April, Saakashvili wrote that he was “fighting for survival” in a prison cell, being a political prisoner. He claims that he was “systematically questioned, physically and psychologically.” The politician also wrote about the signs of heavy metal poisoning, against the background of which he developed more than 20 serious diseases.

Saakashvili says that he will die soon if he does not receive medical help outside the country. The Georgian authorities deny that the politician was poisoned.

• It was also reported that Alexei Navalny had serious health problems in the colony. On April 11, it became known that he was again sent to a penal institution. Since August last year, this is already the 13th shipment to SHIZO. According to lawyer Vadym Kobzev, on the night of April 8, an ambulance was called to the opposition politician because of an aggravated stomach ailment. The defender noted that Navalny’s diagnosis is still unknown. The lawyer stated that he would require toxicological and radiological tests, since his client could be given small doses of poisonous substances imperceptibly.