Georgian authorities block transfer of country’s ex-president to intensive care

Supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president jailed by current Georgian authorities, said on Tuesday he was being denied transfer to an intensive care unit despite his life-threatening condition and doctors saying he needed medical treatment. urgent treatment.Saakashvili, who led Georgia from 2004 to 2013, is serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power. According to his supporters, this accusation is politically motivated.Saakashvili’s personal doctors who monitor his health say his condition has deteriorated significantly since he was imprisoned, where he went on numerous hunger strikes.He is being treated in a clinic in Tbilisi, but his lawyers are asking for a cancellation so that he can be transferred abroad.Saakashvili, 55, was due to be transferred to the intensive care unit on Tuesday, family spokesman and political ally Giorgi Chaladze told Reuters, but the transfer was blocked at the last minute.During his visit to Saakashvili on Tuesday, Chaladze said he was informed by medical staff that a place was being prepared for him in the intensive care unit, which is 30 meters from where he is currently detained.However, according to Chaladze, this transfer was blocked because the Georgian authorities do not want to transfer Saakashvili, as it could “provide legal grounds for his release…or at least his release from the prison system”.Georgian officials representing Saakashvili’s rival political party allege that Saakashvili is feigning illness in an effort to secure an early release from prison.