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Georgian opposition gives authorities 24 hours to hospitalize Saakashvili

On October 20, Saakashvili was charged with illegal border crossing, which may entail imprisonment of up to five years

TBILISI, November 7. /TASS/. The Georgian opposition has set a 24-hour deadline for the country’s authorities to hospitalize former president Mikhail Saakashvili, threatening to stage large-scale protests in the capital if the demand is not met.

"We give the authorities 24 hours to take him [Saakashvili] to a civilian hospital. Bidzina Ivanishvili [founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party] has 24 hours to make a sound decision and transfer Mikhail Saakashvili to a facility where his life and health will be out of danger," the leader of the opposition United National Movement Party, Nika Melia, told the crowd that gathered on Saturday to show support for Saakashvili outside a prison in the Georgian city of Rustavi.

"If they fail to do so within 24 hours, the entire Georgia will gather on the Freedom Square [in Tbilisi] at 20:00 [local time, 19:00 Moscow time] on Monday, November 8," the opposition leader added.

Several hundred of protestors gathered for a rally outside the Rustavi prison on Saturday. Enhanced police patrols were on duty in the area. The entrance to the penitentiary facility was blocked with steel barriers. When the protest was over, some activists started to put up tents outside the prison building, claiming they were ready to spend the night there.

Mikhail Saakashvili was apprehended in Georgia, where he came back prior to the first round of local elections, on October 1. The former president is serving a prison sentence in the city of Rustavi, where he went on hunger strike, as he considers himself a political prisoner. Georgia’s Justice Ministry has repeatedly suggested moving the politician to a prison hospital, but Saakashvili and his lawyers insist that he should go to a private hospital. Various actions and rallies supporting ex-leader of the country have been held in Rustavi for a month.

Saakashvili served as Georgia's president between January 2004 and November 2013. He left the country several days before his presidential term expired in 2013. Right after that, four criminal cases were opened against him and verdicts have now been announced in two of them. In January 2018, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Saakashvili in absentia to three years behind bars in the 2006 murder case of United Bank of Georgia staff member Sandro Girgvliani. In June 2018, a court handed the ex-president a six-year prison sentence in the 2005 beating case of parliament member Valery Gelashvili.

On October 20, Saakashvili was charged with illegal border crossing, which may entail imprisonment of up to five years. The politician has been a resident of Ukraine recently, holding the country’s citizenship.

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