Ukraine’s president has accused the Kremlin of slowly killing Saakashvili, who has claimed he was poisoned
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday gave the Georgian ambassador 48 hours to return home and consult with the government about the fate of imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The decision followed the publication of images from yesterday’s appearance of the 55-year-old Saakashvili that heightened concern about his health. Weakened and very emaciated, he lifted the T-shirt he was wearing to show his ribs and stomach.
President of Georgia from 2004 to 2013, Mikheil Saakashvili was arrested in 2021 days after returning from nearly eight years in exile. He was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of abuse of power while he was president – ​​he insists he is innocent and that the charge was politically motivated.
“Today I asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to call the ambassador of Georgia, express our protest to him and ask him to leave Ukraine within 48 hours in order to hold consultations in his capital,” Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a Telegram post.
Ukraine’s president has accused the Kremlin of slowly killing Saakashvili, who has claimed he was poisoned. The former president of Georgia also has Ukrainian citizenship. “The world saw today once again how the Kremlin – through the current government in Georgia – is killing Ukrainian citizen Mikheil Saakashvili,” Zelensky said.
After leaving Georgia, Saakashvili worked with various Ukrainian governments and was an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky. For a time he was also governor of Odessa. His supporters say the Georgian government has adopted a pro-Kremlin stance and refuses to adequately support Ukraine in its war with Russia.
“I once again call on the Georgian authorities to transfer the Ukrainian citizen Mikheil Saakashvili to Ukraine in order to receive the necessary treatment and care,” Zelensky said and asked the West not to ignore this case. “I also call on our partners to deal with this case and not ignore it, so that this man can be saved. No government in Europe has the right to execute people,” the president of Ukraine emphasized.
Source :Skai
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