The third president has exposed the penitentiary system for torture and inhuman treatment in court

Georgia's third president exposed from the courtroom the penitentiary system for torture and inhuman treatment. He recalled in detail the day of his fraudulent transfer from Rustavi to Gldani prison.

"Before leaving, when I met with the MEP's, they asked me if I was afraid that upon coming back to Georgia, that I would be tortured. I replied that who would torture anyone in the 21st century? Come now, how would they dare? During my meetings in the senate, one of the senators mentioned that they were just concerned about my safety, about what could happen to me in prison. I told them that in the 21st century, no one would ever do such a thing. After this, I am told in the 12th facility of Rustavi that I did not have the right to make a phone call, because one of the made up charges, after that, when I waved to my supporters from the shower room, they sealed off the window, caused a commotion, atleast now, I am able to be seen from the glass and beforehand, this was impossible from anywhere 

And then first I went on hunger strike and the situation was such that first the doctors were not allowed to visit me, except for doctors of this facility, then under public pressure a state concilium was formed which wrote a recommendation that as a preventative measure, because in many areas my condition had already deteriorated, that I should have been transferred to a multidisciplinary hospital, then the situation continued when sometimes my lawyers were not allowed, the Ukrainian Public Defender was scolded and all of this have been recorded and sent to the relevant organization.

And after that I had a meeting scheduled with my mother and two children, I had a meeting scheduled with the State appointed concilium, I was told all the time that sometimes the council was busy, sometimes my family didn't come, in short, they usually lied to me and then the warden comes into my cell and says that my petition was granted. "You are going to a multiprofile civilian clinic, I said, tell me where this clinic is, he told me somewhere in Tbilisi, don't worry there is a clinic there, I said I want to know exactly what kind of clinic it is, I can't tell you because of your security, but it is exactly what you wanted" - said Mikheil Saakashvili.

Mikheil Saakashvili recalled that they had forcefully dragged him out of the car, kicked him in the legs, punched him in the arms, tried to strangle him. He said that they took his shoes, took and tore his clothing, "they took me away nearly naked, with beatings and insults."

Mikheil Saakashvili said he constantly heard insults and threats and that this was orchestrated by the administration:

"These were facts of torture and inhuman treatment against the founder of the Georgian state, and what does it matter be it Saakashvili or Kibrotsashvili, what right do they have after that to have a voice in the law enforcement system," said Mikheil Saakashvili.

The third President recollected the 49th day of the hunger strike, the day he lost consciousness, saying that he was lucky because he was in the presence of his lawyers at the time.

He thanked resuscitator Guliko Kiliftar for saving his life.

"It was a situation where Guliko Kiliftar saved my life. Because I lost consciousness for almost 20 minutes, which is a very long time, experts know, during this time ischemic stroke, brain death, heart failure, everything else can happen. Guliko, I remember very well slapping me on the cheek, telling me not to die, not to die, not to die, great thanks to this noble lady," said the third president.