I Don’t Want an Ex-President to Die in Prison or to Suffer Irremediable Consequences - Zourabichvili

At the end of the interview, the journalist gave question to the current president about Mikheil Saakashvili: “the independent counsel of doctors who examined him in February said, he has neurological diseases as a result of torture, ill-treatment, inadequate medical care and a prolonged hunger strike. You have the power as President to pardon him. Why don’t you?”

In response she said: “I don’t have the power because, for one very simple reason is that, the sentencing is not closed. He’s still being judged. And that’s the law in Georgia that pardon can intervene only when everything is finished”.

When asked to clarify whether he will pardon Saakashvili when everything is over, Zourabishvili noted that this is another issue and she already explained at length why she will not make such a decision.

“That’s another issue. I’ve explained at length in Georgia why I wouldn’t do it because it’s a factor for major polarization. There is not practically one family in Georgia that has not experienced what it meant to have that type of autocratic regime. So, I don’t feel that I have to become an instrument for more polarization. But, at the same time, I’m the Head of State, where I don’t want an ex-President to die in prison or to suffer irremediable consequences, and so, I’ve been very close to monitoring all the medical, and there is, in fact, I was waiting for today that there would be a new conclusion of the international medical team that has been examining him, but it’s not yet out. I’ve been saying publicly in Georgia that I think that he should be extradited, or I don’t know what is the term, to be able to receive additional ease in the hospital since six months, but that’s a decision that has to be taken by the Court,” President Zourabichvili said.

On November 19, Mikheil Saakashvili's lawyer Valeri Gelbakhiani and his mother Giuli Alasania announced that Saakashvili was poisoned, and foreign experts identified mercury and other heavy metals in his body. The Conclusion of examination on the health condition of the former president was prepared by the „RCT/EMPATHY” center, which probably will be public in a few days. Along with Georgian specialists, international medical experts also participated in the examination. According to “EMPATY” director Mariam Jishkariani, Saakashvili's diagnoses are serious and fit the criteria for releasing him from prison. Mikheil Saakashvili's family, lawyers, doctors, and members of the United National Movement party demand that the third president be taken abroad for treatment.

According to Minister of Justice Rati Bregadze, they will approach to Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau to conduct a toxicological examination for Saakashvili. On November 21, a statement on behalf of Saakashvili was published on Facebook, where the third president says that he has never told any of his lawyers about suspecting poisoning.

Saakashvili returned to Georgia a year ago and was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1, 2021, the day before local self-government elections. Saakashvili is found guilty and has been sentenced to six years in prison for the cases of beating of MP Valeri Gelashvili and pardoning the employees of the Constitutional Security Department convicted for the murder of Sandro Girgvliani. Saakashvili is also accused in the cases of “Imedi” TV company, raiding of the November 7, 2007 protest rally, illegal take-over of the property of Patarkatsishvili and the embezzlement of state funds of 9,024,367 GEL.