Polish PM suggests jailed Saakashvili could be treated in Poland

Poland wants the former Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, whose medical condition has deteriorated while serving a prison sentence, to be treated in Poland, the country's prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has said.

Morawiecki said he had discussed the matter with a number of leaders during the Thursday-Friday EU summit he attended.

"Poland has initiated a proposal for the Georgian government, and I have discussed the issue with many prime ministers, that Mikheil Saakashvili, a former president of Georgia, could be treated in Poland," Morawiecki said in Brussels on Friday.

"We're afraid he could be facing the worst in Georgia," the prime minister added. "If Georgia wants to count on a positive response to its European aspirations, then it needs to treat seriously the appeal that is just being formulated by the (European - PAP) Council's foreign services."

Saakashvili, the Georgian president from 2004-2013, is currently serving a six-year prison sentence issued in absentia in 2016 for abuse of power, which the former president and his supporters see as politically motivated.

Saakashvili's medical team has reported that his health has significantly deteriorated since he was put in jail in October 2021 and began a series of hunger strikes. In late 2021 he was taken to hospital.

Currently, Saakashvili is at a Tbilisi clinic and his lawyers are applying for a suspension of the sentence to allow him to travel abroad for treatment.