The Special Penitentiary Service [SPS] issues a statement regarding the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.

“Due to the high public interest, the SPS explains:

On May 31, 2022, in order to monitor the health condition of Mikheil Saakashvili, the Vivamed clinic conducted a toxicological examination in the Mrcheveli laboratory. According to the results obtained on June 10, 2022, all indicators were normal.

On November 19, 2022, one of the lawyers Valeri Gelbakhiani, announced the alleged poisoning of his client. As Mikheil Saakashvili noted on November 21, 2022, he never told any lawyer that he suspected poisoning and called speculations on this topic “inappropriate”.

On November 21, 2022, another lawyer, Shalva Khachapuridze, stated about the alleged poisoning of the convict, who didn’t believe that the said “post” was written by his client, because his health didn’t allow him to do so. After meeting with the convict, this lawyer soon confirmed the authenticity of the statement.

On November 22, 2022, the SPS requested to conduct a chemical-toxicological examination in the Samkharauli Forensics Bureau, which was approved. On November 24, 2022, the SPS offered the convict to conduct research, but Mikheil Saakashvili refused.

On December 2, 2022, TV Pirveli aired a small and incomplete excerpt from the expert report conducted by the Empathy center, which, at their request, is confidential, which aimed to present the situation as if Mikheil Saakashvili was poisoned. This type of deliberate, destructive action serves to create a wrong public perception of the convict’s condition and is aimed at harming the interests of the state.

Once again, we explain that at this stage, the court must discuss the confidential report, some parts of which were orchestrated and made public by TV Formula. Artificial aggravation of the situation is another additional attempt to create a tense background before the court hearings, which is a clear example of pressure on the court.

We categorically call on the interested party to refrain from disclosing fragmentary sections of the conclusion which was made confidential at their own request, to respect the society, the constitutional order”, - reads the statement.