Ex-president Saakashvili: October 1 marks five years of my captivity, the exact time Cervantes was held captive

“Since the conditions of my captivity have become a topic of discussion, I will provide additional details. I am held in a small, dark, cockroach-infested, airless cell, where in place of a proper toilet there is a primitive latrine (every political prisoner here is kept in identical conditions),” wrote former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili on social media.

“October 1st marks five years of my captivity, the exact time Cervantes was held captive. Confinement in solitary isolation for such a duration constitutes torture and inhuman treatment under international norms. The prison is situated adjacent to Ivanishvili’s Rustavi cement factory, from which carcinogenic dust constantly rains down upon us, making it difficult to breathe.

Unlike 99% of prisoners, I have been prohibited from making telephone calls throughout this entire period (recently I was permitted to speak with Alisa for merely a few minutes a week), despite this being guaranteed by law. They refuse me meetings with the Ukrainian Consul, and access to Ukrainian print and video content. My lawyers are inexplicably forbidden from bringing in photographs, including photos of my children and grandchild. Numerous international, governmental, and parliamentary delegates have likewise been repeatedly denied permission to visit me.

In short, I am treated as a prisoner of war, except that, like their Russian masters, they fail to observe the Geneva Convention. All of this, just like my initial torture and poisoning, is naturally designed to break me. However, Ivanishvili, his jackal supporters, and his handler in Moscow will, of course, never live to see that day,” Saakashvili wrote.