Third President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who is now in Gldani prison hospital, has responded to the video footage released by the penitentiary establishment today.
Saakashvili's lawyer Nika Gvaramia has read the ex-president's letter.
''I address all Georgians,
The actions by the government from day 1 of my hunger strike up to now have been a well-formulated and planned murder that Vladimir Putin ordered.
The video footage released today, which shows who is a winner and who sides with the underworld, inflicts the most serious harm possible upon the government.
For this reason, it seems paradoxical that the government has released the footage. However, the paradox has its explicit explanation _ they want to enrage Georgian patriots, with further provocations resulting in a civil conflict. The conflict will be followed by Russia entering and occupying the country under the pretense of ''neutralizing threats near the border.''
Correspondingly, I, as my country's selfless patriot and founder of the modern Georgian state, cannot refrain from offering resistance to this calamitous scenario being fulfilled. My hunger strike is already becoming a tool in the hands of Russia and this government. Based on the foregoing, I decided to take the appeal by the Strasbourg Court and the western partners into account and call off the hunger strike on one condition. The rehabilitation process following a hunger strike is much harder than the hunger strike itself. In the Gldani hospital, there is neither the corresponding technology nor the personnel with the appropriate qualification.
Additionally, it is beyond me how I can trust the institution staff members who are torturing me and, as today's video footage shows, who subjected me to violence. On top of this, there is no guarantee that my safety will be protected here, or I will not be under psychological pressure, which is also the requirement of the Strasbourg Court. Likewise, I deem the Gori hospital as the most serious threat possible since Russian occupation forces and special force units are deployed several kilometers from the hospital.
Accordingly, I require that the Concilium of doctors decide in which multi-functional and well-equipped clinic and under what kind of treatment will I be provided with adequate post-hunger-strike rehabilitation.
The Concilium must be comprised of professionals and patriots only, with the number of my representatives and those designated by the state being equal. Its decision must be binding rather than of recommending nature. I will comply with the decision without hesitation, and the government must also do so,'' the letter reads.
Nika Gvaramia said earlier that the Strasbourg Court had met their requirement on the interim measure, while Justice Minister Rati Bregadze declared that 'The Strasbourg Court has refused to satisfy Saakashvili's claim in connection with his transfer to a private clinic and demanded that he called off the hunger strike.'
Ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was detained on Oct 1, has been on a hunger strike for 42 days now.
