Ex-President Saakashvili: Garibashvili is as much a victim of his own system; he dealt the dictatorship a severe blow

“Karma is a cruel thing. When I was taken prisoner, there were still relatively independent oversight mechanisms within the prison system, namely the State Inspector’s Service led by Londa Toloraia, and an independent medical council convened by Public Defender Nino Lomjaria,” former President Mikheil Saakashvili wrote on social media.

The former president recounted being made to run a gauntlet of criminals when transferred from Rustavi to Gldani.

“When they transferred me from Rustavi to Gldani, to a makeshift ‘hospital’ thrown together in five days specifically for me, and in the days that followed, they beat me and forced me through a gauntlet of criminals. I was subjected to constant terror in my cell. Toloraia’s service intervened, sending competent investigators who documented my physical injuries, seized my torn clothing, and took statements, creating irrefutable evidence of torture and inhuman treatment.

Within a week of that incident, on Garibashvili’s orders, the law was amended: Toloraia’s service was abolished, and the evidence was destroyed. Shortly after its abolition, I was poisoned, and there was no one left to investigate it. Instead, Nino Lomjaria exercised her statutory powers to establish an independent medical council to examine my health. She brought in prominent, upright Georgian doctors. The council raised the alarm, launched a public campaign, and under their pressure, I was moved from prison to a clinic.

At the EU’s request, Polish doctors were admitted to the prison, but upon leaving, my hair and nail samples were confiscated from them. This was done directly on Garibashvili’s orders to prevent the truth about my poisoning from coming to light. Soon after, Nino Lomjaria’s term expired, and on Garibashvili’s initiative, Levan Ioseliani was appointed in her place, who staffed the medical council with entirely different personnel.

So, when Garibashvili is mistreated, there will be no one left to investigate it, precisely because of his own actions. If he is poisoned, a fate he hysterically fears, there will be no one left to verify it. What is more, it was Garibashvili who banned Georgian and foreign parliamentarians from visiting prisons because of me, meaning no one will be permitted to visit him either. And when he is genuinely ill, his former colleagues will accuse him of feigning symptoms.

To complete the picture, add to this the fact that it was because of me that Garibashvili banned food parcels in prison, now restricted to just twice a month, so he too will have to endure the vile prison food.

Garibashvili is just as much a victim of the system he created as Yagoda, Yezhov, and Beria were victims of the repressive machine they built.

Furthermore, Garibashvili will inevitably be silenced soon: his assets will be seized, his family members will be squeezed even harder, and he will fall quiet. Every ‘Kotsi’ [Georgian Dream loyalist] is a coward, but he has already inflicted immense damage on the dictatorship,” Mikheil Saakashvili wrote.