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A video of Georgia’s imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili appearing visibly emaciated during a live-streamed court testimony has prompted a diplomatic stand-off between Tbilisi and Kyiv, which has accused its traditional ally of acting at Russia’s behest.
In response to Monday’s footage, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the Georgian ambassador to Kyiv to leave “within 48 hours” to consult with Tbilisi about transferring the former Georgian leader to Ukraine for medical treatment.
On Wednesday, however, Irakli Kobakhidze, chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, ruled out the possibility of such a transfer, saying there would be “no consultation” with Kyiv.
He added that Zelenskyy’s decision to send the Georgian ambassador to Ukraine back to Tbilisi in order to negotiate over Saakashvili’s transfer was “regrettable and insulting”.
The escalation comes as relations between the two countries have soured significantly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In the first weeks of the war, tens of thousands of Georgians took to the streets of Tbilisi to show support for Ukraine and dismay over the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision not to join international sanctions against Russia.
The pro-western Saakashvili was arrested upon his return to Georgia in October 2021 after nearly a decade abroad — which included a period as a regional governor in Ukraine — and sentenced to a six-year term for alleged abuse of office.
His deteriorating condition since his incarceration has prompted a public outcry in Georgia and in the west. Zelenskyy accused Russia of killing Saakashvili “at the hands of the Georgian authorities”, noting that the former Georgian president also has Ukrainian citizenship.
Such accusations are an allusion to the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, an oligarch who has presided over a more Russia-friendly stance and the dismantling of many of the country’s key democratic institutions.
“What we know is that the Georgian government is playing a game of yo-yo with [Saakashvili’s] health,” said Alexandre Crevaux-Asatiani, a foreign policy co-ordinator with Saakashvili’s party, the United National Movement (UNM).
“When [the government] needs a crisis, they weaken his health. There have been protests in front of the clinic where Saakashvili is being held, and UNM is trying to let the international community know as much as possible what’s going on,” he added.
The treatment of Saakashvili, as well as attempts to pass Kremlin-inspired laws and further erode the independence of the judiciary, has cast a shadow over Georgia’s aspiration to join the EU.
The Georgian government last month drew criticism from the bloc after it authorised Azimuth Airline, a Russian carrier that operates flights to Russia-annexed Crimea under Ukrainian sanctions, to start direct flights to and from Russia.
The European Commission last year put Georgia in the slow lane of EU accession, issuing a 12-point series of reforms it must enact before being granted official candidate status. Ukraine and Moldova, which applied for membership at the same time as Georgia, have already been given candidate status.
President Salome Zourabichvili, who was elected in 2018 with the support of Georgian Dream, has the power to pardon Saakashvili. Two weeks ago, she took such a step in the case of a journalist imprisoned on charges his supporters say were politically motivated.
Zourabichvili has repeatedly stated she will not intervene in Saakashvili’s case, but many Georgians still hope that she will change her mind. Zourabichvili is vocally pro-EU and has come out in support of Ukraine, causing ire from the government.
“I don’t think Zourabichvili will pardon Saakashvili,” said Crevaux-Asatiani. “More than once she has said she opposed the idea. But I always keep hope. We in the opposition keep that hope.”
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