AFP, published Monday 3 July 2023 at 8:40 p.m.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday gave the Georgian ambassador 48 hours to return to Tbilisi to hold consultations on the fate of the country’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili, also a Ukrainian citizen, who accused Moscow of killing him.
The statements follow Monday’s appearance by 55-year-old Mr Saakashvili, a former Kremlin pet peeve who his defense attorneys said was a victim of poisoning and was extremely thin and emaciated at his trial in Tbilisi.
“Today I asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the Georgian ambassador, to inform him about our protest and to ask him to leave Ukraine within 48 hours for consultations in his capital,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
“Today the world could once again see how the Kremlin – at the hands of the current Georgian government – kills Ukrainian citizen Mikhail Sakashvili,” Zelenskyy added.
The former pro-Western President of Georgia (2004-2013), a pet nuisance of Russian authorities who in 2008 launched an armed invasion of this former Soviet republic aspiring to join NATO, was arrested in 2021 after returning from exile and is the main opposition figure to the current one government that opponents say is under pressure from Russia.
“I once again call on the Georgian authorities to transfer Ukrainian citizen Mikheil Saakashvili to Ukraine for necessary treatment and care,” added Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“And I appeal to our (Western) partners to deal with this situation and not ignore it in order to save this man. No government in Europe has the right to execute people, life is a fundamental European value.”
Pictures of Mikheil Saakashvili appearing very emaciated during a court hearing on Monday were broadcast by several Georgian TV channels, raising concerns about his health.
At this hearing via video conference, Mr. Saakashvili appeared with an emaciated face. According to the released images, the 55-year-old ex-leader lifted his T-shirt to reveal his torso with exposed ribs and a hollow stomach.
His doctors say Mr Saakashvili, a man who weighed 250 pounds before his arrest, lost about 130 pounds in prison and suffers from heavy metal poisoning, anorexia and cachexia.