Health of Georgia’s jailed Former President Mikheil Saakashvili deteriorating, says doctors

Due to drastic weight loss, the health of Georgia's jailed Former President Mikheil Saakashvili has been deteriorating, his doctor said Wednesday.Addressing a presser on Wednesday, the opposition politician's doctor, Tamar Davarashvili, said, the health condition of the former leader is such that he may land in an intensive care unit."The patient's condition is becoming serious," she said. "His weight and body mass are extremely low," she said, adding that the "next stage could be an intensive care unit."

In what is seemingly grave news for Saakashvili's supporters, the doctor added that he weighed 115 kilogrammes when he was jailed in October 2021 and now he weighs just 67 kilogrammes. Over 570 members of the European Parliament last week passed a resolution where they voiced their opposition to Saakashvili's arrest. The resolution demanded the Georgian government release the former leader and set him free so that he could receive medical treatment abroad.

"The way former President Mikheil Saakashvili is being treated is a litmus test of the Georgian government's commitment to European values," the resolution read. There are growing calls from the international community over Saakashvili's release. In the latest, a group of US-based doctors said that he is suffering from serious neurological, gastrointestinal, and orthopaedic conditions which was a result of "torture" in custody.

Saakashvili went into exile to Ukraine, where he spent most of his life after leaving Georgia. After becoming the governor of Ukraine's Odessa region, he renounced his Georgian citizenship in 2015.In 2018, the former president was convicted by a Georgian court on the charge of corruption and abuse of office. He was sentenced to prison for six years.

However, in October 2021, he was arrested when he landed in Georgia from exile. The pro-Western Saakashvili led the Caucasus country from 2004 to 2013.Many rights groups have said that the arrest of Saakashvili was politically motivated. However, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has repeatedly said that she will not pardon him.

Saakashvili has been requesting voters to throw their weight behind the United National Movement (UNM), the country's main opposition party against the ruling Georgian Dream party.

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