Georgia: former president Saakashvili ends hunger strike

Mikheil Saakashvili finally accepted the offer of the Georgian Minister of Justice, after days of tug-of-war.

(illustrative image) REUTERS / Valentyn Ogirenko

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2 min

The former President of Georgia, Mikheïl Saakashvili, agreed this Friday, November 19 to end his hunger strike, which had lasted for 50 days.

He accepted the offer of the government of his country, which offered to place him in a military hospital, not a civilian one, but outside his prison.

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With our correspondent in Tbilisi,

Mikheil Saakashvili finally accepted the offer of the Georgian Minister of Justice, after days of tug-of-war.

The former president had said he agreed to stop his hunger strike if he was transferred to a civilian clinic.

This was refused to him by the Georgian authorities, the latter having built their political legitimacy since 2012 on their opposition to Mr. Saakashvili and his party.

But after the famous prisoner lost consciousness in his cell Thursday evening, also after a dozen deputies also went on hunger strike and that the warnings of Georgia's western partners were multiplied, the government has apparently agreed to transfer him to a clinic.

Not a civilian clinic, as demanded by Mr. Saakashvili and his supporters, but a military hospital, that of the city of Gori.

It is in a discreet way, that he would have been transferred there this Friday evening on the spot.

He also said he was ready to face justice for the facts alleged against him, on condition - he said in a letter - that this is in front of an independent tribunal.

Third president of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Mikheïl Saakachvili has been in prison since October 1, a few days after returning to his country after eight years of exile.

He had left his country at the end of 2013, just before his second term ended, for fear of being imprisoned by the government then headed by oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, on charges that the former head of state considered to be politically motivated.

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• Georgia

• Mikheil Saakashvili