Jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has alleged a widening plot by officials and others to "murder" him and appealed via social media for his country and the world to prevent "this criminal corporation" from carrying out "their evil intentions."
The 55-year-old Saakashvili, who is serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power that he and supporters call politically motivated, said the only truthful statements at a recent press conference at the Viva-Med clinic where he is being treated are that "my situation is serious and deteriorating fast and that the clinic can practically do nothing. Everything else was a lie."
"We are in the final stages of my murder special operation and it involves 'parliamentarians,' 'journalists' [and] now the clinic," Saakashvili said on Facebook. "I appeal to Georgia and the world, Do not allow this criminal corporation to carry out their evil intentions."
He has repeatedly said he is not being given "adequate treatment" and has sought a transfer for medical care abroad.
Georgian officials have raised doubts about how critical his health situation is.
Saakashvili was Georgia’s president from 2004 to 2013, when the billionaire-financed Georgian Dream party that still governs Georgia rose to power.
Family members and lawyers have warned for months that Saakashvili’s health condition has been deteriorating even as he receives treatment in a private clinic in Tbilisi.
A court in Tbilisi earlier this month rejected an appeal to release Saakashvili from prison on health grounds, Saakashvili's legal team said.
Judge Giorgi Arevadze said the arguments presented during 15 hearings did not satisfy the request to suspend the sentence of the imprisoned ex-president and immediately announced his decision on February 6 after hearing closing arguments.
In a statement shared by Saakashvili's team afterwards, the ex-president slammed the hearing as "a total joke" and the ruling as a "death sentence" handed down by his political opponents.
His medical team says his health has worsened significantly since he went to prison in October 2021 and staged repeated hunger strikes to protest his incarceration.
Saakashvili's legal team has also asserted that he was "poisoned" with heavy metals while in custody.
Saakashvili is currently on trial on separate charges of violently dispersing an anti-government rally in November 2007 and illegal border crossing.