Doctors discovered heavy metals in the body of the former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who is currently serving a sentence in a Georgian prison. They suspect that he could have been poisoned.
Euractiv writes about it.
Saakashviliʼs lawyers distributed the report of independent doctors on his state of health. In it, the American toxicologist David Smith noted that "testing revealed the presence of heavy metals" in Saakashviliʼs body, and the pathological symptoms he exhibits "are the result of heavy metal poisoning."
Smith believes that metals such as mercury and arsenic entered Saakashviliʼs body after his imprisonment. He assures that without proper treatment, Saakashviliʼs risk of death increases.
Another independent doctor, Mariam Jishkariani, who headed the council of doctors who examined Saakashvili, said that he was "diagnosed with brain damage and neurointoxication."
"He suffers from a number of serious illnesses that are incompatible with his imprisonment under Georgian law," she said.
- After returning to Georgia, Saakashvili announced a hunger strike on October 1, 2021, after being sent to prison. He stopped his hunger strike on November 20, after which he underwent a course of treatment in a military hospital. On January 31, Saakashvili was returned to the Rustavi prison.
- In Georgia, the politician was convicted in absentia in the cases of the murder of banker Sandro Girgvliani (3 years of imprisonment) and the beating of deputy Valery Gelashvili (6 years). He is also involved in the case of the dispersal of an opposition rally on November 7, 2007 and the pogrom of the "Imedi" television company.