On July 3, 2023, shocking footage from a court session in Tbilisi appeared on the Internet, where the former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, demonstrated his condition via video link. The video shows that the politician has health problems: excessive livestock and exhaustion.
In response to this, the Ukrainian authorities asked to return him to Ukraine to provide proper treatment, but for now, the situation is standing still.
“I may be physically weak, but I am very strong inside, I am very strong! I did not commit a crime against Georgia,” – Saakashvili said.
Let’s find out what is happening to the Ukrainian citizen. Did Mikheil Saakashvili really commit crimes against Georgia, or is it a political conspiracy – read in our material.
Who is Mikheil Saakashvili?
Mikheil Saakashvili – is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician. He was the third president of Georgia for two consecutive terms from 25 January 2004 to 17 November 2013. From May 2015 until November 2016, Saakashvili was the governor of Ukraine’s Odesa Oblast. He is the founder and former chairman of the United National Movement Party. Saakashvili heads the executive committee of Ukraine’s National Reform Council since 7 May 2020.
Saakashvili began his political career in 1995: he was elected to the Georgian parliament several times, was a representative of his country in the PACE, and later held the position of Minister of Justice.
In 2003, he led the Rose Revolution in Georgia. In the presidential elections held after the revolution, in 2004, he was elected the new president of Georgia, gaining almost one hundred percent of the votes.
The Rose Revolution – was a nonviolent change of power that occurred in Georgia in November 2003. The event was brought about by widespread protests over the disputed parliamentary elections and culminated in the resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze, which marked the end of the Soviet era leadership in the country. The revolution derives its name from the climactic moment, when demonstrators led by Mikheil Saakashvili stormed the Parliament session with red roses in hand.
Saakashvili’s presidency in Georgia was marked by global police reform, the transition of the Georgian army to NATO standards, as well as significant economic growth. In addition, it was during this period that Georgia was accused of mass violation of human rights, which was associated with political and corruption arrests, torture of detainees and prisoners.
It was during the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili that the military invasion of the Russian Armed Forces into Georgia, which was called the “Russian-Georgian war”, was committed.
In 2013, after serving two terms as president, Mikheil Saakashvili left Georgia.
Saakashvili actively supported the Revolution of Dignity. After its completion, Saakashvili took the position of adviser to the president and headed the international reform council under the president of Ukraine. In 2015, he became the governor of governor Odesa Oblast. However, at the end of 2016, he left it due to a conflict with Petro Poroshenko and was subsequently deprived of his citizenship.
In 2019, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed a decree to return Ukrainian citizenship to Saakashvili. Soon after that, he arrived in Ukraine.
On April 22, 2020, information appeared that the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wants to make Saakashvili the deputy prime minister for reforms in the Cabinet of Ministers of Denis Shmyhal.
In September 2021, Saakashvili returned to Georgia, where he was arrested by the Georgian authorities. Several cases were opened against the politician, for which he was sentenced to six years in prison. In protest, the politician went on hunger strike several times, insisting that he was arrested on political charges.
Its influence on the politics of Ukraine and Georgia
When Saakashvili was the president of Georgia, he brought many reforms to the country. However, according to our experts, his political career was greatly hindered by his character.
Yrii Podorozhnii, an expert at the United Center for Political Forecasting, told us that Saakashvili’s reforms had two sides to the coin.
“If we talk about Georgia at the time of independence, then of course it is like the history of two different countries, and President Saakashvili is the watershed of the country before and after. Georgia before is full of corruption, which was even called corruption with a stretch – the criminal controlled the state, and the government was only a way to legitimize the corrupt and criminal system.
On the one hand, the authorities started a war against crime, which was not perceived by society as a crime, because everyone from the president to the village teacher was involved in the system. There is only one indicator that, in principle, reflects the state of affairs in politics, economy and social life. If in 1994 – 2000 the budget received 192 million dollars from privatization, then in 2005 this amount increased to 231 million”.
According to him, Saakashvili’s reforms gave quick results. In Georgia, the number of ministries was reduced from 18 to 13, and the number of public services – from 52 to 34. Ministry personnel were cut by 35%, and the number of civil servants in the public sector was reduced by 50%. The result of lustration was a significant increase in salaries of civil servants, whose average salary increased to about 450 dollars. Before Saakashvili, salaries in Georgia ranged from 10 to 30 dollars.
However, such rapid reforms were carried out harshly, and not infrequently very brutally. But even this circumstance was not the reason for the appearance of a powerful opposition inside the country in the person of billionaire Ivanishvili, who is closely connected with the authorities in the Russian Federation.
“With his reforms, Saakashvili separated Georgia from the Russian Federation, and the Kremlin could not allow this. Within a year of his presidency, Saakashvili went into open conflict with Moscow, demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Georgia. The conflict grew and as a result – the war of 2008. Saakashvili, as an eccentric person, turned into a personal enemy of Putin. And that’s why there was a symbiosis of hatred inside the country multiplied by Russian money,” – Podorozhnii added.
On the other hand, Volodymyr Tsybulko, an expert of the United Center for Political Forecasting, is of a more skeptical opinion.
“Saakashvili is a very controversial figure, intuitive, and intuition sometimes has the ability to fail. If in Georgia, Mikhail was an effective and self-confident leader, although more intellectual creators, such as Kakha Bendukidze, were behind the reforms. But Saakashvili was still the personification of reforms, the leader of changing social psychology, and therefore the success of the reforms became his personal reputational gain. But reputation ran ahead, and society decided to take its time. What became essentially decisive in the revenge of the counter-reformers”.
He added a few more words about the “United National Movement” party, whose leader was Saakashvili.
“The strangest thing is that Saakashvili’s own party, the United National Movement, somewhat avoided its founder. And faith in the potential of his brainchild in Saakashvili overcame common sense. Once in Georgia, Mikhail did not become a catalyst for regime change, and it seems that he even worsened the capabilities of his own political force. His current struggle alone does not ignite anyone politically. He preserved himself in his own picture of the world, which does not correlate with reality at all”.
Regarding his influence on Ukrainian politics, both experts agreed that he was not so successful in our country. Its function is rather nominative and controversial.
“In Ukraine, Saakashvili served more as a marker of the government’s intentions than as an effective politician. His games in Odesa immediately appeared to observers not so much to create a territory of success for reforms as to create a financial base for a return to Georgian politics. And this inconsistency made a bad joke with him, leading to a situational alliance, for example with Kurchenko. His attacks on Poroshenko looked very strange, especially when Poroshenko repelled external aggression. Kurchenko, on the other hand, is an ally of the occupier, and in fact he would hardly have financed the rebellion against Poroshenko without the permission of the special services of the aggressor. The impression is that with this demarche, Mikhail bargained the Russians for a certain indulgence from persecution. But, as we can see, he did not bargain!” – explained Tsybulko.
Petro Poroshenko – is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2010, and as the Minister of Trade and Economic Development in 2012. From 2007 until 2012, he headed the Council of Ukraine’s National Bank. He was elected president on 25 May 2014, receiving 54.7% of the votes cast in the first round, thus winning outright and avoiding a run-off. During his presidency, Poroshenko led the country through the first phase of the war in Donbas, pushing the Russian separatist forces into the Donbas Region. He began the process of integration with the European Union by signing the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement.
“Saakashvili earned his detractors in Ukraine as well. I remember the time when Saakashvili’s political party, which he created in Ukraine, could become a factor in domestic politics. Saakashvili, who received a Ukrainian passport and came to Ukraine with a team of reformers, tried to gain a foothold in Ukrainian politics, but without real power in his hands, neither Saakashvili himself nor his team showed results. The political party turned out to be a magnet for political swindlers,” – Podorozhnii added.
He said that the Georgian reformers who were in the General Prosecutor’s Office, the National Police and the Ministry of Health did not show results. So Saakashvili’s ascension to the post of head of the Odesa Regional State Administration was also surprising. Obviously, for the ex-president, the position of the head of the region should be a platform for forming a political image. But the activity of the Georgian team ended with a huge scandal and the expulsion of Mikheil Saakashvili from Ukraine.
“After the election of President Zelenskyy, Saakashvili triumphantly returned to Ukraine. It is recalled that his name was even seriously discussed for higher government positions. However, everything ended with the chairmanship of the National Council of Reforms, which, in fact, was created under Saakashvili. No reforms were actually carried out, and Saakashvili himself ended up in Georgia,” – the analyst noted.
“They crossed all the red lines a long time ago”: the opinion of the former member of Saakashvili`s team
We managed to get a comment from International Consultant with up to 15 years’ working history in the management/consulting industry Giorgi Tskhakaia, who used to be part of Saakashvili’s team. We asked why the Russian authorities “don’t like” this politician.
“First of all, they don’t like him because he was the first person who went against the system. When Putin believed, and unfortunately still believes today, that this region, including Ukraine, Georgia and everything else, belongs directly or indirectly to Russia, then the first to declare a different course of development, a western course, was Georgia. And that’s why for Russia, a developing country that makes reforms, kills corruption and differs from it, this is a serious problem. And, of course, Saakashvili was such a person,” – he explained.
President Sarkozy officially told about him in his book, including in an interview, that Putin actually threatened to physically kill Saakashvili in 2008. For Russia, the development of Ukraine or the development of Georgia, the establishment of a Western course, the destruction of corruption, institutional reforms, and the improvement of all institutions that work there in the country are a direct threat.
“Because those people who came from Russia to Georgia and saw how the customs system works, how the police work, how all the institutional systems work, began to ask questions. What if small Georgia, which is not rich in resources, could achieve such success so quickly, then why are they having so many problems in Russia. And this, of course, is the institutional difference between these two politicians,” – he added.
According to him, Saakashvili was the first who was not afraid to openly oppose Putin’s system. There is no personal conflict between the presidents. This is a conflict when one has imperialist and maniacal interests, and the other had the task of building a pro-Western state. That’s the whole difference.
He emphasized that the ex-president of Georgia is not extradited to Ukraine due to the direct influence of the Russian authorities:
“I think that one of the reasons is that the Georgian government is more pro-Russian. For them, firstly, Saakashvili is alive, in general, it is the main problem. If they release Saakashvili, despite the fact that they are obliged to do so, for humanitarian, human and other reasons, their leadership in Moscow will be very unhappy about it.”
And regarding the accusations against the politician, he answered unequivocally – it is a delusion. Some cases are simply absurd:
“I am sure that all these accusations brought against Saakashvili are completely delusional. This is not even a falsification, just a delusion. If you look at these documents from his cases in which he is accused – it’s not even funny. It is very sad. The president was accused of illegally purchasing 7 suits, bouquets for the cemetery for Lech Kaczyński and Vaclav Havel, shampoo for the then president Yushchenko, and so on. This is the first case.
And the second case is why he used his discretionary right to pardon 120 officers. That’s not okay either, because it’s presidential discretion. As for illegal border crossing, it is administrative, perhaps. Saakashvili is now Putin’s prisoner. He sits for political reasons and has nothing to do with the law enforcement system and justice there.”
Giorgi emphasized that no matter how the Ukrainian authorities try to return Saakashvili to the country for treatment, the Georgian leadership does not give in, which violates international norms.
“But, unfortunately, it is not possible to do this, because the Georgian authorities are behaving inadequately. Yes, the European authorities are not behaving themselves. I’m not very strong in diplomacy and I’m not an expert, so I don’t know what else can be done. But the fact remains that Saakashvili is still on death row as a prisoner in the hands of the Georgian pro-Russian authorities,” – he added.
In mid-July 2023, there was information that Polish doctors were allowed to visit Saakashvili, but one of them tried to steal a sample by hiding it in a boot. After that, the Georgian authorities allegedly thought about whether it is worth allowing foreign doctors to visit politicians. We asked Giorgi Tskhakaia if this is not an attempt to discredit doctors and limit their access to patients.
“It can be all together. And nothing from the Georgian authorities will come as a surprise. They crossed all the red lines a long time ago. These doctors were not allowed in for 5 months. The European authorities had to put serious pressure on the Georgian authorities for 5 months so that the event of these doctors would happen,” – he answered.
He answered briefly about his influence on the politics of Ukraine:
“He was the Chairman of the Executive Committee of Reforms of Ukraine. First, based on the results of several legislative acts that were presented at the National Council of Reforms, including changes in the state construction legislation, based on this concept, then such an institute as DIAM was created. Yesterday, the law on small winemakers, which he personally presented at the reform council, was adopted in the second reading.”
He also added that the labor law has been changed, which makes many things easier in wartime. Several important institutional reforms were presented.
“Including customs clearance of cars, which, unfortunately, did not go through, but the process does not stop. Sooner or later this system will work. Seafarers can already confirm their qualifications online. And it was a serious battle that Saakashvili started. A lot of good changes happened, in which he was the flagship, the initiator. I pushed them forward, together with the team, the president and all the people,” – the politician concluded.
What is happening to him now?
On October 1, 2021, Saakashvili announced that he had returned to Georgia. On the same day, the politician was detained and arrested. The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia initiated another criminal case against him – on the fact of illegal crossing of the border.
We will remind you that back in 2018, the court of Georgia convicted Mikhael Saakashvili in absentia in the cases of amnesty for the accused in the death of Sandro Girgvliani and the beating of the former member of parliament Valery Gelashvili. The court found Mikhael Saakashvili guilty of abuse and abuse of power and sentenced him to six years in prison.
Criminal cases have also been opened against the ex-president for the embezzlement of budget funds, the dispersal of the November 7, 2007 protests, the pogrom at the “Imedi” television company, and the seizure of the property of its owner, the late businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili.
“We are prosecuting the man who was the president of Georgia, who twice won elections by dishonest means, who introduced torture and violence in Georgian prisons. As the European Court in Strasbourg said in its verdict, it is related to the case of the murder of a 27-year-old banker, because his friend (ex-Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia – ed.) was involved in this case. And this is the verdict of the European Court in Strasbourg, not the verdict of my government. We are persecuting a person who used the state budget as his pocket money, for his own pleasure and ambitions,” – Georgian Defense Minister Tinatin Hidasheli said back in 2015.
On October 20, 2021, the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia brought another charge against Saakashvili – illegal crossing of the state border. According to the investigation, Saakashvili secretly returned from Ukraine to Georgia in a trailer loaded with dairy products, which arrived by ship from the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk to the port of Poti. Saakashvili himself calls the cases politically motivated.
“Most likely, this was an operation planned by interested special services to lure the ex-president to Georgia. After all, Saakashvili understood that as soon as he crossed the border, he would be arrested. However, most likely he was counting on large-scale protests that would end in another revolution, and his stay in Georgia was supposed to be a trigger for mass riots,” – Podorozhnyi suggested.
Saakashvili himself has repeatedly stated that he considers the charges brought against him in Georgia to be far-fetched and groundless.
“After the arrest, it would seem that the Georgian authorities have the opportunity to investigate all accusations against Saakashvili, not in absentia, but with the presence of the suspect. But the Georgian authorities followed the path of torture, deciding to kill their ex-president,” – the expert added.
Indeed, footage from the court session is shocking and clearly shows the poor state of the politician’s health.
“Mykhailo Saakashvili was poisoned. An elevated content of heavy metals was found in his body: mercury, barium, thallium. Such a conclusion was made by foreign doctors,” – Darina Chyzh, spokeswoman for the ex-president, said on Facebook.
Also on November 19, 2022, Saakashvili’s lawyer Valery Gelbakhiani confirmed her words.
“All the diseases that Saakashvili has, all the symptoms can be caused by this poisoning. He himself suspected that he was poisoned for a long time. Otherwise, his diseases would not have developed like this.”
After publishing the latest photos of Saakashvili, Volodymyr Zelenskyy immediately reacted to it as follows:
“I once again call on the Georgian authorities to hand over Ukrainian citizen Mykhailo Saakashvili to Ukraine for the necessary treatment and care. And I call on our partners to address, not ignore this situation and save this person. No government in Europe has the right to execute people, life is a basic European value”.
He also obliged the Georgian ambassador to Ukraine to leave the country within 48 hours so that he could return to Tbilisi and consult with the authorities. The head of the ruling party “Georgian Dream” Iraklii Kobakhidze reacted to the decision of the Ukrainian authorities and said that such a decision is insulting to Georgia, but his country will remain in a unilateral regime of friendship with the authorities of Ukraine.
“In light of the step that has already been taken, the next steps are no longer interesting. This is a sad reality. No consultations regarding Saakashvili can be started,” – Kobakhidze said.
He also added:
“Every day our ambassador stayed in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and did a lot of things. His role in humanitarian and political support was very important. Considering this, such a step by the Ukrainian authorities is insulting, very sad and regrettable. However, other than that, we are also not going to respond with comments. We prefer to remain in the regime of one-sided friendship with the Ukrainian authorities”.
He also unambiguously hinted that “certain high-ranking officials of the Ukrainian government were allegedly involved in sending Saakashvili to Georgia.” Of course, this is a statement for the Georgian electorate. The representatives of the ruling “Georgian Dream” somehow have to explain the slow demonstrative and public killing of Mikheil Saakashvili, believes Yury Podorozhnyi.
“These statements are at least strange, because the current government of Georgia has done everything to prove its commitment to the idea of public normalization of relations with the Russian Federation. Of course, for Ukraine, relations with other countries are determined by the attitude towards war. Georgia took at least a weak position,” – he added.
This is explained by the fact that, according to the data of the survey conducted in December, 2022 by the National Democratic Institute, 54% blame Russia for the Russian-Ukrainian war, and another 25% blame Russian President Vladimir Putin. Only 8% of respondents called Ukraine guilty of the war. And therefore Georgian society will not accept the anti-Ukrainian rhetoric of its government, especially since many Georgian citizens are fighting on the side of Ukraine today.
Russia’s influence on the Georgian government
French and Georgian public figure, diplomat Salome Zourabishvili, was elected as the President of Georgia in 2018. Earlier, the President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, said that Georgia had never had such a diplomat as Salome.
The position of President Salome Zourabishvili is ambiguous. A few years earlier, she stated that in the Russian-Georgian war in 2008, it was not the Russian Federation, but Georgia itself that started hostilities. At the same time, Salome considers the USA to be the main foreign policy partner. Despite this, the actual power in Georgia is not held by the president, but by the government of Garibashvili.
Irakli Garibashvili – is a Georgian pro-Russian politician, Prime Minister of Georgia from February 22, 2021 and from 2013 to 2015. Former Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia.
We asked Volodymyr Tsybulko who was Saakashvili’s main opponent during all this time. He answered:
“Saakashvili’s main opponents are the “Georgian Dream” party, which is managed from the shadows by the pro-Kremlin Bidzina Ivanishvili. It has already made so many mistakes that it can be swept away at any good moment. It is obvious that Georgians hope for a victory for Ukraine, which will allow them to overthrow their pro-Kremlin government. The Georgian authorities, on the other hand, are trying to replace civilizational guidelines with consumption – the growth of citizens’ incomes at the expense of changing foreign policy guidelines. Why do we need Europe: let’s get better sausage!”
He also added that Mikhail’s political career can be considered complete:
“The hope that the return of Georgian soldiers from Ukraine will start a new political process in Georgia may be exaggerated, but the pro-Kremlins can be swept away due to the entry into politics of the younger generation of Georgians, of course with the support of veterans of the war in Ukraine, only this political act does not provide even a cameo role for Saakashvili. The same is true in Ukraine”.
Instead, Yury Podorozhnyi spoke in a little more detail about Georgia’s position after the start of the full-scale invasion:
“After the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Georgia, it refused to impose sanctions against the Russian Federation and even increased the volume of trade with it. According to Ukrainian intelligence, Georgia has become one of the routes through which the Russian Federation circumvents Western sanctions. Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili accused Ukraine of trying to “open a second front” of the war with Russia and stated that the return to the country of ex-president Saakashvili served the same purpose”.
He also added:
“Garibashvili also considers it a merit of his government that Georgia “managed to avoid” the war, which in fact means playing on the side of the Russian Federation. Indeed, the Russian Federation is an important partner for the Georgian establishment. Last year alone, according to the National Bank of Georgia, Russians transferred about 2 billion dollars to the country, which is ten times more than the similar figure in 2021. In 2022, Georgia’s GDP increased by 10%, not least thanks to Russian migration flows”.
At one of the press conferences, Prime Minister Garibashvili reminded that Russia occupied 20% of his country: “Russia built two military bases on our historical land, Russia recognized the so-called independence of our historical regions, and this occupation continues.” However, harsh political statements do not prevent Georgia from falling under Russian influence.
“The situation will be aggravated by the fact that tensions will increase in the country due to increasing integration with Moscow, which means that in the next political cycle the country will face a serious confrontation between the actions of the government and the expectations of ordinary Georgians, similar to what happened in Ukraine in 2014. Moreover, even the president of the country, Salome Zurabishvili, stated that “Georgia should not be confused with the word “Georgia” and some statements of individual politicians. No politician ever single-handedly represents this country and the will of the country. Especially contrary to what the people repeatedly demonstrated.” Of course, this is quite a diplomatic expression, but it is indicative,” – Podorozhnyi explained.
In his opinion, the Georgian government is trying to use pro-European rhetoric that appeals to the electorate, while the level of cooperation with the EU is reduced to a critical level, against the background of deepening relations with the Russian Federation. The restoration of air traffic between Georgia and the Russian Federation, which is increasing significantly, received a great response, and Tbilisi became a transit point for air traffic between the cities of Moscow and Nice.
“There are also talks about the restoration of railway connections. In the end, these steps in logistics showed that ordinary Georgians will not protest when the government deepens economic ties with the Russian Federation, and this is an important step for a country with 20% of its territory occupied by the country with which it will develop the economy. The Georgian authorities are trying with all their might to promote the thesis that the economy is above all else, and supporting Ukraine will mean that little Georgia will have to fight with the Russian Federation again,” – the expert added.
He then concluded:
“Relations between Ukraine and Georgia are reaching a dead end, and the situation looks like the Georgian people unquestionably support Ukraine, but the government does not. And this position of the government is fixed by every new statement made by it. Therefore, it is not worth expecting that Mikheil Saakashvili will be sent to Ukraine for treatment, just like expecting a change in attitude towards the war in Ukraine. At least while the pro-Russian party “Georgian Dream” is in power”.
The situation with Saakashvili’s health looks really critical and requires a decisive reaction not only from Ukraine, but also from other European countries. Regarding his political career, it is difficult to follow a single opinion, because for some he is a hero and an outstanding personality, while others consider him a criminal and self-centered person. In any case, what is happening to him now is illegal and violates basic human rights. The international community should pay attention to this.
Tetiana Stelmakh
