By TBILISI. Dec 14 (Interfax) – Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, currently receiving care at the Vivamedi clinic, went on a hunger strike on Wednesday after the Georgian Penitentiary Service did not provide for his attendance of a court hearing on an imprisonment deferral by video link, lawyer Shalva Khachapuridze told reporters.
"What happened today at the Tbilisi City Court, when Saakashvili was not allowed to take part in the proceeding by video link, is absolutely inadmissible. Not even a Stalin-era court did that. Mikheil Saakashvili went on a hunger strike in protest," the lawyer said.
The hearing is taking place at the Tbilisi City Court.
Earlier on Wednesday, the court delayed the hearing until December 22. A representative of the Georgian Justice Ministry’s Penitentiary Service told the court it was technically impossible to organize Saakashvili’s attendance at the hearing by video link.
Judge Giorgi Arevadze tasked the Penitentiary Service to provide a video link for Saakashvili at the hearing due to take place on December 22.
