Page 7 - GEORptFeb22

2.0 Politics
2.1 Saakashvili’s condition not improving, doctors say
Jailed Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s condition is not improving, his doctors say.
The group of medical experts convened by the Public Defender of Georgia to monitor the health and treatment of Saakashvili said in their assessment yesterday that the ex-president’s psychotherapeutic and physical rehabilitation remains a “substantial problem”.
The findings highlighted that after vital risks were eliminated with refeeding following the ex-president’s 50-day-long hunger strike, no further significant improvement or deterioration could be observed in Saakashvili’s condition in their past three monitoring visits, the last on January 11.
The physicians said at this stage the ex-president’s key health problems are consequences of Wernicke’s encephalopathy – neurological symptoms, eye paresis, imbalance, general weakness and worsened sensitivity of limbs; anemia; post-traumatic stress disorder and moderate-to-severe depression. According to the assessment, the group’s recommendation on November 25 to treat Saakashvili through psychotherapy for depression and PTSD has gone unaddressed. As for the pharmacological treatment the ex-president receives, the experts said it is “more or less satisfactory”.
Saakashvili ended his 50-day hunger strike on November 21.
The former president and founder of the main opposition party was convicted in absentia in 2018 to six years in jail for abuse of office. He began his hunger strike after being jailed upon his return from exile in Ukraine on 1 October, saying the charges and his arrest were political.
2.2 Gakharia party member elected head of Tsalenjikha municipal council
Korneli Salia, a member of former Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia's For Georgia party, has been elected the chairman of Tsalenjikha’s municipal assembly.
By electing Salia, Tsalenjikha has become the only municipality in Georgia where both the mayor (the UNM's Giorgi Kharchilava) and the head of the assembly are from the opposition.
Salia was elected the head of assembly with a total of 14 votes by the opposition members, as the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) representatives refused to cast their ballots.
Following his election, Salia said that he is ready to cooperate both with the GD and the opposition parties.
GD Head Irakli Kobakhidze said Salia's election proved that For Georgia and the United National Movement (UNM) have formed a “real alliance”. Tsalenjikha was the only mayoral election out of 20 held on October 31 that was not won by GD, with UNM emerging victorious in the town, part of the
7 GEORGIA Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com