Former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, whose health has been affected by two hunger strikes in prison, is at risk of death if he does not receive proper care, doctors warned on Friday.
The 54-year-old former president refused to eat for the first time for 50 days and then for 20 days, to denounce his imprisonment, in compliance with a sentence for abuse of power that he considers to be based on political reasons.
On Friday, independent doctors who examined him in prison indicated that he suffered from Wernicke’s encephalopathy, serious neurological disorders, anorexia and post-traumatic stress, among others.
If the former president is not rushed to a hospital where he will no longer be exposed to “stress factors,” he risks, according to doctors, neurological complications that can cause multi-organ dysfunction and death.
So far, Georgian authorities have downplayed concerns expressed by doctors and supporters of the former president.
Sakaashvili, who led Georgia from 2004 to 2013, was arrested and imprisoned in October 2021 upon his return to the Caucasus country after a several-year exile.
His arrest fueled the political crisis that had erupted after the 2020 legislative elections, in which the ruling party won a very narrow victory and in which the opposition denounced fraud.
