Putin had sworn to “hang him by the balls” in 2008… The ex-Georgian and pro-Western president, Mikheïl Saakashvili would have been poisoned with mercury and arsenic… His family directly accuses the head of the Kremlin!
Currently detained for “abuse of power”, Mikheil Saakashvili, ex-president of Georgia and fierce opponent of Vladimir Putin, appeared at the worst during a hearing which was to rule on his continued detention.
A hearing carried out by videoconference which shocked those close to the ex-president but also public opinion. We see Saakashvili, 55, very thin and very weak, his head held up by a pillow placed in his back. His now gray hair and shaking hands also created a stir.
?? Last hour I met Mikheil #Saakashvili he was a healthy man. This is how he looks today a bit over a year in a Georgian prison. The well-being of every prisoner including Saakashvili is a responsibility of the Government of #Georgia. pic.twitter.com/XY6fbhnfNy
— Viola von Cramon ???? (@ViolavonCramon) December 22, 2022
Since then, his family has been demanding that the former opponent of Vladimir Putin be removed from his prison where he is serving a 6-year sentence for “abuse of power” in order to be treated abroad.
Poisoned since he’s been in jail
His lawyers and his family rely on the results of a toxicological analysis carried out by the American professor David Smith. Mercury and arsenic were found in his analyses. “With a reasonable degree of certainty, these agents were introduced following Mikheil Saakashvili was incarcerated,” Smith said.
Saakashvili had been sentenced in 2018 while living in exile and he was arrested on his return to Georgia in 2021. He has since denounced a political trial, he who had, during his exile, lived in Ukraine where he had obtained nationality Ukrainian.
Pro-Western Saakashvili opposed Putin in 2008 during the Russian invasion. Putin had then sworn that he would “hang him by the balls”.
Zelensky in support
Today, Mikheil Saakashvili is “on the verge of death” and his family points the finger at the Russian state which he considers responsible for his poisoning.
For the NGO Amnesty International, the treatment reserved for Mr. Saakashvili is an “apparent political revenge”. In its fight, the family of the ex-president received the support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who called on the Georgian government to show “compassion”. “What is happening to Mikheil today is cruel. It has to stop,” he said.
