it is Thursday at 6pm When Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia and the darling of the West, fell on the linoleum floor of a heavily guarded prison in Tbilisi.
“He was lying there, unconscious, his eyes turned back,” his lawyer told me today. “I thought that was the case. I thought we had lost him.”
The neurotic, almost hysterical fear of Saakashvili’s death prevailed Georgia And politics in recent weeks. In the early 2000s, Saakashvili turned this small Caucasus country into a rare post-Soviet success story—a democratic beacon in the backyard of Russia’s autocracy and a close ally of the West. Now he is in critical condition after seven weeks of hunger strike. He began to protest, demanding a fair trial for the current government’s allegations against him-he said these allegations are aimed at destroying him and Georgia.
As his condition deteriorated, the Georgian government has repeatedly rejected calls for Saakashvili to be transferred to an appropriate medical institution. After several days of large-scale protests, it has finally surrendered, Pressure from the U.S. State DepartmentAnd agreed to temporarily transfer him to a military hospital.
But this is already the biggest crisis Georgia has ever experienced Since the Russian invasion In 2008, it was partly to punish his reforms and his efforts to get Georgia into NATO. Many people worry that his imprisonment and abuse may lead to civil war and push the country back into Russian orbit.
Saakashvili is undoubtedly also responsible for what is happening. As the Georgians call it, Misha is an extremely polarized figure. The unprecedented anti-corruption reform has turned one of the most corrupt countries in the world into a well-functioning modern country, so he is respected by many people. But he also hated the populism and authoritarian tendencies he formed in the process. His unpredictable and bizarre behavior caused him to lose many friends internationally-this may be the reason why the West is not interested in the fate of its former golden boy.
On the other hand, Russia is very interested in the ongoing crisis.Ten years ago, Vladimir Putin Famous threat Saakashvili was hanged by his testicles. It seems that the Georgian government is now doing this work for him.
Reports on Saakashvili’s career Rose revolution When he came to power in 2003, I never believed that he would return from exile in Ukraine for eight years, where he initiated an unlikely plan Second political career. Like everyone else in Georgia, on October 1st of this year, when the news of his sudden departure lighted up on his famous active Facebook page, I took a breath. In Batumi, A city on the coast of the Black Sea.
Saakashvili has never returned since he was taken away by the Georgian Dream, a political party founded by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili in 2012. Soviets—Traditionally, power can only be transferred through war or revolution.
As Kakha Bendukidze, one of the founders of the modern Georgian state, said in 2012: “Georgia has taken a step forward… but sometimes, when you take a step forward , You are in trouble.” Soon after the election, Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, left public politics, but continued to rule behind the scenes, frequently changing prime ministers, and even Georgians could hardly remember themselves. name. Under the leadership of Saakashvili’s successor, authoritarian populism has softened, but so has efforts to join NATO and the European Union. Economic growth has slowed, and small-scale corruption has returned.
If Ivanishvili becomes the puppet master of the Georgian government, Saakashvili will play the same role in the opposition. After exile in Ukraine, he continued to command his allies at home, disintegrating and weakening the opposition in the process.For ten years, the struggle between these two warring mavericks-exiled former presidents and billionaires Occupy a futuristic mansion On the top of a hill overlooking Tbilisi-defines the politics of Georgia. In October, the situation changed. Saakashvili jumped into the back seat of a milk truck and sneaked into the country.
“I risked my life and freedom to come back,” Saakashvili said in his video speech, despite the fact that the Georgian government The spokesperson insisted Saakashvili’s return to China is “a well-made fake, in fact a deep holiday.” However, 12 hours later, the government arrested him and put him in prison.
Saakashvili requested a fair trial on a hunger strike, but the government continued to refuse him to appear in court. As his health deteriorated, the opposition began holding large-scale rallies, demanding appropriate treatment. At the same time, the government just shrugged. Saakashvili owns “The right to suicide“According to Iraqi Prime Minister Garibashivili. During his long imprisonment, the government released shocking security camera footage showing the half-naked former president being Dragged through the prison corridor.
By publishing Saakashvili’s humiliating photos, the Georgian government is attracting its most radical voters, further polarizing the already divided Georgian society.
In all this chaos, there is only one winner, and that is Russia. Although Western news channels paid little attention to the story of Saakashvili’s imprisonment and hunger strike, the Russian state-affiliated television station knew very little about it. In a recent Russian TV show, an image of the Georgian flag hung on the floor of the studio. The host walked past it, and a video clip of the humiliated Saakashvili was shown on the huge screen behind him.
When I watched it, I remembered how in my last interview with Saakashvili in 2015, I emphasized to him the mistakes he made during his presidency. He admits that there are many: too much power, too much arrogance, and too little compromise. He has many regrets. Then why not go back? I asked. He was tried in absentia for abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison-but if his regret is real, if he cares so much, why not serve his sentence?
“Because if I go to jail, they will try to kill me,” he replied. In this ongoing crisis, he looks dangerously close to right.
