Brussels should reimburse costs of Saakashvili’s clinic stay - Georgian speaker
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has said that “bureaucrats in Brussels” should reimburse the expenses incurred during former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s three-and-a-half-year stay in a private medical clinic, claiming their pressure led to his transfer from prison for treatment, News.Az reports, citing Georgian media.
“I am interested in one question – we need to find out how much his stay in the hospital cost. I want to know the amount. Then we must demand that those bureaucrats in Brussels reimburse these expenses to the Georgian people. I would like to know how much their hysteria and false narratives cost the Georgian people,” Papuashvili told journalists.
He alleged that “Euro-bureaucrats,” together with the presidents of Ukraine and Moldova, “lied about Saakashvili being tortured in prison” to advance their own political aims, and he called on them to apologise.
“Today you applaud President Zelensky, but it was he who brought Saakashvili here to destabilise the country. That is who your Zelensky is… A full-scale war is underway, while they tried from here to stir up the situation so that Georgia would become embroiled in an escalation with Russia, which would have ended in war,” Papuashvili said.
Saakashvili had been undergoing treatment at the Vivamedi civilian clinic in Tbilisi since 12 May 2022, after being transferred there with severe health complications following a prolonged hunger strike. Earlier this week, the Georgian Justice Ministry announced that he had been discharged and returned to prison, saying his condition was satisfactory and no longer required inpatient care.
The former president has been incarcerated since 2021 on abuse-of-power charges, which he dismisses as politically motivated. He is due to remain in prison until 2034 under existing verdicts. Meanwhile, new criminal cases continue to be brought against him; this month, Saakashvili and several opposition figures were charged in a “sabotage” case.
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