The judge ordered the penitentiary to adequately treat Mikheil Saakashvili, but did not ask for the admission of the personal physician and the "Empathy" council

Tbilisi City Court Judge Badri Kochlamazashvili partially granted the petition of Mikheil Saakashvili's lawyers.

During the hearing the lawyers asked the head of the penitentiary service to provide proper medical assistance to the third president and at the same time to allow his chosen doctors, including personal doctor Nikoloz Kipshidze and experts from the Center of Empathy to visit the facility.

"I petition under Article 191 Prima Part 2 for a judge to order the Director General of the Penitentiary Service to provide adequate treatment for Mikheil Saakashvili. The treatment is inadequate, it does not lead to positive results, on the contrary, we have a deterioration and we have presented the opinion of the People's Advocate on this matter. There are different conclusions on this matter...

We must also be guided by the Patients' Rights Act. He has the right to freely choose his doctors, he is his personal physician, and also the defendant cannot be refused an alternative examination," said Nika Gvaramia, the lawyer of the third president in the trial.

In response, the judge said that he instructed the director general of the Special Penitentiary Service to take all necessary and special measures to protect the health of Mikheil Saakashvili.

As for keeping a personal doctor and empathy experts in prison, Badri Kochlamazashvili said he would not issue a separate order for admission because his ruling "already provides" for proper medical care.

"Since the defendant informs the court about his state of health and complains about receiving inadequate medical care, the court makes a ruling and instructs the Director General of the Special Criminal Executive Service to take all necessary and special measures within his competence to protect the health of the accused and to not be at the risk of receiving inadequate and inappropriate medical care, "- said the judge.

After that, Nika Gvaramia once again explained to him why he asked to make a note in the verdict about the admission of the personal physician and members of the alternative board.

We need to know if it really got better or not. We need a credible source to tell us that the treatment is carried out, and more important than the treating physician is the "empathy" group, which the penitentiary is obligated to allow in but simply doesnt. This board verifies what was given, what was drunk, whether the treatment was adequate, issues recommendations, and so on," Nika Gvaramia told the judge.

The judge responded to the lawyer's statement, "You don't need a personal physician in prison for that. As a lawyer, you can report what kind of medical care was provided."

The lawyer also clarified the issue and said that the lawyers were not given information despite the request for medical care for Mikhail Saakashvili.

"I instruct the director of the Special Penitentiary Service to pay due attention to this. He should decide how to do it," Badri Kochlamazashvili said.

The lawyer of the third president said that the decision would have been invalid if it had been more specific, but the judge did not overturn the decision.

He also explained that if his ruling is not executed by the penitentiary institution and the lawyers prove it, it will be the basis for a new additional ruling.

The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for March 1 at 11:00 p.m.