U.S. company to continue lobbying Saakashvili's liberation in foreign media under contract with his family

TBILISI. Feb 3 (Interfax) - The family of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has extended by one month a contract with the United States PR company Globalpoint to lobby a campaign in foreign media for freeing Saakashvili from prison for humanitarian reasons and transferring him abroad for medical treatment.

"It's true that I've signed this contract, because I can't see my son being softly killed in detention," Saakashvili's mother Giuli Alasania told journalists on Friday.

Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the ruling party Georgian Dream, told journalists in commenting on the Saakashvili family's decision to extend the contract with Globalpoint that no lobbying would influence due course of law.

"No matter who urges us to depart from following law based on Saakashvili's malingering, we won't do that and will be consistent," Kobakhidze said.

U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan told journalists on Thursday the U.S. was concerned about Saakashvili's health status. Washington is closely following the process and assesses the situation surrounding Saakashvili's health as serious, she said.

Saakashvili secretly arrived in Georgia on September 29, 2021, and was detained in Tbilisi on October 1, 2021. Shortly after that, he was put in jail in the city of Rustavi, where he declared a hunger strike. On November 8, without agreement with his relatives and lawyers, Saakashvili was transferred from the Rustavi prison to a prison infirmary in Tbilisi's Gldani district. On November 20, he was moved to a military hospital in Gori, where he ended his hunger strike. On May 12, 2022, Saakashvili was admitted to the Vivamedi civilian clinic in Tbilisi, where he currently is staying.

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