Poland ready to give medical treatment former Georgian president Saakashvili

WARSAW  (Reuters) – Warsaw has proposed to the Georgian government that former president Mikheil Saakashvili be treated in Poland, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said, aiming to solve a dispute over the jailed former Georgian leader’s treatment.

Saakashvili, who led the former Soviet republic as a pro-Western reformer from 2004 to 2013, is serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power, a charge he and his supporters say was politically motivated.

Saakashvili has staged multiple hunger strikes while in prison and alleges he has been poisoned. His health has drastically deteriorated and he has lost over 40% of his body weight since October 2021, according to health records shared by his political ally and family spokesman Giorgi Chaladze.

Georgian officials say the ex-president is simulating the seriousness of his condition in order to gain early release and that they have provided adequate healthcare in a clinic in Tbilisi where he has been held for months.

“Poland has issued a proposal to the Georgian government that Mikheil Saakashvili could be treated in Poland,” Morawiecki said during a news conference in Brussels.

Saakashvili’s team are seeking permission for him to be released or allowed to be transferred abroad for medical treatment.