Saakashvili must be released, receive medical care as free man, says lawyer

''Mikheil Saakashvili is a victim who has been subjected to torture and inhumane treatment. Naturally, he must be released and entitled to medical treatment as a free man,'' lawyer Dimitri Sadzaglishvili said after visiting ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili to the Gori Military hospital. 

In the lawyer's words, the ex-president is a political prisoner. ''Gharibashvili's statements clearly testify to him being a political prisoner. In any normal country, a man is given the right to receive medical care as a free man after he is subjected to torture and inhumane treatment,'' the lawyer stressed. 

Mikheil Saakashvili was moved from the Gldani prison facility to the Gori Military Hospital on 20 November after Justice Minister Rati Bregadze suggested that the hunger-striking ex-president be transferred there.

Saakashvili was detained on 1 October.