Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze allowed the possible transfer of the country's ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili from a clinic to prison.

“Saakashvili will be transferred to a penitentiary institution when the appropriate decision is made. You will find out about this very soon. I am glad that his health has improved dramatically and I want to wish him good health! The principle is very simple: the convicted person must serve his sentence in a correctional institution,” Bregadze shared with reporters.

In June, the Public Defender of Georgia, Levan Ioseliani, after visiting prisoners at the Vivamed clinic, noted the improvement in the health of Mikheil Saakashvili.

“I cannot speak about Saakashvili’s health, but physically he looks much better than during my previous visit in March 2023. The issue of his return to prison was not discussed; this is not my competence and not the competence of the clinic. I received information regarding his state of health, but I cannot talk about it publicly,” said Levan Ioseliani.

Since his arrest on October 1, 2021, Mikheil Saakashvili has spent a total of less than six months in a prison cell. The rest of the time he was in clinics: first in a prison, then in a military hospital, and from May 2022 in the Vivamed clinic. Saakashvili is under arrest, having been sentenced in absentia to imprisonment in two criminal cases. After his arrest, he went on hunger strike three times.