Georgia's penitentiary service has released a statement according to which former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been transferred to a prison hospital in Tbilisi.
"According to my information, a consilium gathered, which concluded that he should be transferred to a multidisciplinary hospital. At this time, ignoring everything, they took him somewhere in front of our eyes. Two armored cars drove by and a helicopter flew over. We had been waiting for two hours and there was no answer. They took him away." She told journalists in front of the prison where she went to see her son and her grandchildren.
Georgian media reported a helicopter had landed on the prison grounds.
Earlier Mikoloz Kipshidze, Saakashvili's personal physician, had stated that the consilium of doctors considers it necessary to urgently transfer the ex-president of Georgia to a multi-profile civil hospital. He noted that doctors unanimously decided on the basis of test results that Saakashvili, who is still on hunger strike, should be hospitalized.
As a reminder, Saakashvili had secretly arrived in Georgia on September 29. On October 1 he was detained in Tbilisi. Saakashvili was in a prison in the city of Rustavi.
Georgian officials have repeatedly said they would detain him as soon as he crossed the border. Saakashvili considers his detention illegal and the charges against him trumped up.
