On Saturday (November 6), about 3,000 Georgian protesters held a rally outside the prison to support the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who said he was on a hunger strike.
The Georgian National Security Agency stated that the protests were part of a coup plan planned and directed by Saakashvili.
There may be a tense confrontation between security forces and opposition supporters, but the rally outside the prison in Rustavi, southeast of the capital, Tbilisi, was basically peaceful.
“The organizers of the protest plan to block the government building,” the Russian news agency TASS quoted a national security spokesperson as saying.
“These actions aimed at seizing power by violence were planned by the jailed Mikhail Saakashvili.”
His lawyer said that the 53-year-old Saakashvili has been on a hunger strike in prison for more than a month, but the Georgia Department of Prisons released on Saturday a video clip taken in early November. The video clip appeared to show Saakashvili using a spoon. Eat in small cups.
Saakashvili received a blood transfusion in late October. He said that from October 30, the prison doctor prescribed a liquid solution for him for medical reasons.
On Saturday, representatives of the Georgian public defender or human rights monitor visited Saakashvili in the prison, rejected the statement of the prison service department and confirmed Saakashvili’s account of the incident.
Saakashvili faced 6 years in prison after being convicted in absentia in 2018 for abusing his power and concealing evidence during the presidential period. He refused to accept the charges on politically motivated grounds.
Saakashvili led the Rose Revolution in 2003 and overthrew the veteran leader Edward Shevardnadze. Saakashvili served as president from 2004 to 2013, then left the country and established a new political career in Ukraine.
He was arrested on October 1st after returning to Georgia on the eve of local elections. He called it a mission to unite the opposition and save the country.
