17 Oct 2026
Georgia's jailed ex-president Saakashvili in ‘critical’ condition on hunger strike
Georgia’s jailed opposition leader and ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on hunger strike for weeks, is in a critical condition and lacks proper medical care, doctors said Wednesday.
Saakashvili, who was president between 2004 and 2013, has been refusing food for 48 days to protest his imprisonment on October 1, shortly after his return from exile in Ukraine.
Georgia’s government has refused to move him from prison hospital to a civilian clinic, against the advice of doctors who have warned of the risk to Saakashvili’s life, AFP reports.
On Wednesday, a council of medics set up by ombudsperson Nino Lomjaria said after having examined Saakashvili that his “current status is assessed as critical” and that he faced a risk of fatal complications in the “immediate future”.
The prison hospital where Saakashvili is being treated fails to meet his medical needs, they added, calling for his immediate transfer to intensive care in a civilian clinic better equipped to care for him.
Last week, Saakashvili was moved to a prison hospital where, Amnesty International said, he had been “denied dignity” as well as adequate care.
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