Jailed ex-leader of Georgia moved to intensive care -spokesman to Georgian TV

TBILISI – Mikheil Saakashvili, the jailed former president of Georgia, is being transferred to an intensive care unit after his health worsened, his spokesman and political ally Giorgi Chaladze told Georgian television on Tuesday.

Saakashvili, who led the former Soviet republic as a pro-Western reformer from 2004 to 2013, is serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power, a charge that he and his supporters say was politically motivated.

His medical team says his health has worsened significantly since he went to prison in October 2021 where he staged repeated hunger strikes.

He is being treated in a Tbilisi clinic, but lawyers have sought to have his sentence suspended so he can be transferred abroad.