The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stated that the Georgian authorities are publicly torturing and killing the ex-president of the country, a Ukrainian citizen, Mikheil Saakashvili.

The president also showed a photo of the politician.

Zelensky said this during a joint press conference with Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen in Kyiv on February 1.

The president showed the photo to Saakashvili and said that the photos were given to him before the meeting with his Austrian colleague.

The same photos are posted on the Facebook page of the ex-president of Georgia.

"

Public torture of a citizen of Ukraine

. I am not discussing the issue of why the former president of Georgia was arrested, what are the consequences of this for politics and democracy in Georgia. This is their internal issue. I am talking about the arrest of the citizen of Ukraine Mikheil Saakashvili, who is publicly tortured daily.

I think that their goal is to kill him

," Zelensky said.

He emphasized that Saakashvili was poisoned, and today he is being slowly killed.

In this context, the President of Ukraine asked:

"Georgia, its leadership - who are they for today?"

.

"Are they neutral or are they for Russia? Because Russia treats its politicians in the same way as today the leadership of Georgia treats not its politicians, but the citizens of Ukraine. And so once again: are they neutral? Are they for Russia? Or are they just against Ukraine, etc.?"

- asked Zelenskyi.  

What is Saakashvili convicted of?

It will be recalled that in 2018, a court in Georgia found Saakashvili guilty in absentia of "abuse of official powers" and sentenced him to three years in prison.

Subsequently, the court found the politician guilty of beating deputy Valery Gelashvili and sentenced him to 6 years in prison with the deprivation of the right to hold certain positions for a period of more than two years.

In October 2021, Saakashvili was detained immediately after his return to Georgia on the eve of local elections in that state.

He considers himself a political prisoner and has repeatedly announced a hunger strike.

According to the examination, more than 20 diagnoses were found in Saakashvili, of which the main 10 are "incompatible with imprisonment", although he was almost healthy before his arrest.

Expert toxicologist Deviv Smith believes that Saakashvili could have been poisoned with heavy metals in a Georgian prison.

Read also:

  • Ukraine news

  • War in Ukraine

  • News of Ukraine: video

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