Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili asked to be allowed to go to Kyiv to help Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Georgian politician made this statement during a court session in the Tbilisi City Court.
“I am the chairman of the National Reform Council; my office is directly opposite Zelenskyy’s office. In this especially dangerous period, they are waiting for me there,” Saakashvili said.
He recalled that he is a citizen of Ukraine and at one time was the governor of the Odessa region. According to the ex-president, if he is released, it will allegedly improve the reputation of Georgia.
Recall that Saakashvili was detained and imprisoned on October 1, 2021. At first, the ex-president urged supporters to change the government in Georgia and release him. Then he began to declare that he needed treatment abroad and promised to return as soon as he was cured.
Earlier, during a courtroom appearance, Georgia's imprisoned ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili spoke on Russia's invasion and bombing of Ukraine.
"Putin has started a war against Ukraine with the goal of abolishing the state of Ukraine," Saakashvili stated, adding that "this will be followed by the annexation of Georgia without opposition and the restoration of the Russian empire."
"At least now the last person out there [thinking otherwise] should have been convinced that whatever I could have done in 2008, even if I hadn't moved a finger, informed the world, or fired any bullets, the aggressor didn't need any excuses to invade," Saakashvili responded to critics of his handling of the August 2008 Russo-Georgian War.
According to Saakashvili, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tried everything he could to avoid responding to "Russian provocations," but it was ineffective.
Moreover, during a court hearing on the charge of exceeding power during the November 7, 2007, crackdown on anti-government protesters, Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's imprisoned ex-president, launched a "full, permanent hunger strike."
Ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili said that his choice was motivated by the Georgian Dream government's treatment of him and the "people."
He argued that the Georgian prison system cannot offer proper medical care for conditions he suffered during his initial 50-day hunger strike, citing the opinions of a committee of specialists organised by the Public Defender and the Empathy, a rehabilitation facility for torture victims.
