Saakashvili presumably diagnosed with TB, dementia - lawyer

TBILISI. Nov 8 (Interfax) - Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been presumably diagnosed with tuberculosis and dementia, lawyer Shalva Khachapuridze told the Georgian agency Interpressnews on Tuesday.

"This is a matter of presumed medical diagnoses, they are not final, this is just an assumption, same as 34 other probable diseases of Mikheil Saakashvili," Khachapuridze said.

Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze told reporters commenting on Saakashvili's health that he had no such information.

No one saw the conclusion of doctors from the Georgian center Empathy, so any information regarding the former president's health released at this point is speculation, he said.

"All conditions have been created at the clinic to protect Saakashvili's health," Bregadze said.

Saakashvili secretly arrived in Georgia on September 29, 2021, and was detained in Tbilisi on October 1. Shortly after that, he found himself in a prison in the city of Rustavi, where he went on a hunger strike. On November 8, without the consent of his relatives or lawyers, Saakashvili was transferred from the Rustavi prison to the prison infirmary in Tbilisi's Gldani neighborhood. On November 20, Saakashvili was transferred to a military hospital in Gori, where he ended his hunger strike. He was transferred to a civilian clinic in Tbilisi on May 12, where he currently stays.

Several criminal cases were opened against Saakashvili in Georgia. He called his detention unlawful and the charges brought against him falsified.