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Former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has been poisoned by heavy metals and is at risk of death if not treated properly, according to a medical report.
54-year-old Saakashvili was moved to hospital last year after going on hunger strike for 50 days in protest against his imprisonment.
According to human rights groups, the deprivation of liberty was politically motivated.
In the report that has been distributed by Saakashvili’s legal representatives, toxicologist David Smith, operating in the United States, says that the testing shows heavy metals in Saakashvili’s body.
“With a reasonable degree of medical certainty”, Smith assesses that the ex-president ingested mercury and arsenic after he was imprisoned.
The risk of mortality is “imminent” without adequate treatment, according to Smith.
Georgian authorities claim that the former leader is receiving adequate care.
According to doctor Tengiz Tsuladze, who is part of a medical council formed by a Georgian human rights ombudsman, Saakashvili has lost more than 40 kilograms since he was detained.
Pro-Western Saakashvili was president of Georgia between 2004 and 2013. He was sentenced in absentia in 2018 to prison for abuse of power in handling the anti-government demonstrations in the country in 2007. He was imprisoned in October 2021, shortly after returning from exile in Ukraine.