Penitentiary Service Releases Footage of Saakashvili
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, November 8
The Special Penitentiary Services posted a video saying that due to the high public interest, the agency is publishing some of the facts of food intake by the former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili. According to the Penitentiary Services, the video was taken on November 1.
“These photos and videos clearly show how prisoner Mikheil Saakashvili receives food and natural juices at different times of the day,” reads the statement of the agency.
The service also published photos of the products, which, according to them, were received by Mikheil Saakashvili.
Before the photo-video footage was released by the Penitentiary Service, the Public Defender issued a statement saying that the agency had visited Mikheil Saakashvili, talked to medical staff, and examined the latest information/documents related to his hunger strike.
The Public Defender writes in a statement that according to the information received, Mikheil Saakashvili has been on continuous hunger strike since October 1, 2021, and has not received any food.
On November 6, Georgia's third president announced that he had stopped taking minerals and vitamins from November 6 to rule out any speculation chances.
The State Inspector's Office responded to Saakashvili's footage with a statement, writing that the service had begun investigating the legality of obtaining and disclosing photos and videos released by the Special Penitentiary Service.
According to the agency, it is essential to protect the privacy of a prisoner being on hunger strike.
Late at night on November 7, the Deputy Public Defender of Georgia, Giorgi Burjanadze, visited Saakashvili in prison. The meeting was held at the request of Mikheil Saakashvili. He had appealed to the prison administration to provide information to the Public Defender's Office regarding the footage released by the Penitentiary Service.
According to Burjanadze, Saakashvili told him that he had never seen the food additives shown in the footage released on November 6. Saakashvili received food supplements, in Burjanadze's words, “at the request of doctors, so to speak, as a substitute for drugs and medications.”
According to Burjanadze, Mikheil Saakashvili noted that he received small dose supplements after communicating with Tamta Demurishvili, the medical director of the penitentiary service, and refused the offer to increase the dose. According to Burjanadze, the medical records prove that the supplements were taken in a small quantity.
