Mikheil Saakashvili, the jailed former president of Georgia, is being transferred to an intensive care unit after his health worsened, his spokesperson and political ally Giorgi Chaladze told Georgian television on Tuesday.
Saakashvili, who led the former Soviet republic as a pro-Western reformer from 2004 to 2013, is serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power, a charge that he and his supporters say was politically motivated.
His medical team says his health has worsened significantly since he went to prison in October 2021 and staged repeated hunger strikes.
Saakashvili is being treated in a Tbilisi clinic, but lawyers have sought to have his sentence suspended so he can be transferred abroad.
The European Union has called reports about Saakashvili's health "worrying" and called on the government to provide medical care.
But critics, including those in the ruling Georgian Dream party, say he abused his power and lost popular support. He was convicted in absentia in 2018 and then sent to prison in October 2021 after he returned to Georgia from Ukraine, where he had been advising President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on reforms.
'Show mercy': Zelenskyy to Georgia
Zelenskyy last month also drew attention to his plight, calling on Georgian authorities to "show mercy."
"What is happening to Mikheil now is cruelty," the Ukraine leader said. "It does not become Georgia. It must be stopped."
The main opposition party in Georgia, the United National Movement, last month filed a court case calling for the imprisoned ex-president to be released for medical examination overseas because of concerns that he is suffering from poisoning.
Saakashvili has suffered weight loss, musculoskeletal pains and muscle atrophy, "which may be the result of an undiagnosed infectious process and/or possible intoxication," the UNM said in its statement."
The party said toxicological examination showed him with elevated levels of barium, bismuth and mercury. The statement said the conclusions were based on examination by Georgian and foreign experts conducted through the Empathy Center, a Georgian anti-torture NGO.
The U.S. State Department called on Georgia to treat Saakashvili "fairly and with dignity" not long after his arrest.
