I am a political prisoner in Georgia, and I am dying

After all, the struggle in Ukraine has laid naked Putin’s true imperialist ambitions to revive the Soviet empire by annexing its previously held territories, however I derive no satisfaction from being confirmed proper. For the person who as soon as threatened to “cling me by the balls” is, undoubtedly, finally accountable for my present predicament.    

Georgian Dream, the political social gathering that got here to energy after I stepped down, was established and continues to be run, behind the scenes, by billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili — a person who made his fortune in Nineties Moscow and is extensively understood to have shut ties with Putin.  

And regardless of overwhelming help among the many Georgian folks for EU integration — an estimated 80 p.c help becoming a member of — the Georgian Dream authorities reveals growing solidarity with Russia. Whereas there may be, in fact, official apprehension about being overtly hostile to the Kremlin given the hazard Georgia faces, the overwhelming majority of Georgians help the Ukrainian trigger, which the federal government is trying to suppress.

After I returned to Georgia in October 2021, after eight years in exile, to help free and honest parliamentary elections, I used to be a wholesome, energetic 54-year-old man. I used to be then instantly arrested by Georgian authorities and have been imprisoned ever since primarily based upon rumour and politically motivated prices of “abuse of energy,” which solely the Kremlin and the present Georgian authorities contemplate official.   

And in detention, my well being has declined precipitously; I’m now dying.  

I’ve been systematically tortured, bodily and psychologically, and there may be at the moment proof of heavy steel poisoning in my physique. I now undergo from a bewildering array of over 20 critical diseases, all of which developed in confinement.  

In gentle of all this, in mid-February, the European Parliament issued a decision calling for my launch and, noting Georgia’s democratic backsliding, it handed nonbinding resolutions calling for sanctions in opposition to Ivanishvili. In the meantime, the Georgian Dream authorities continues to mock Western leaders, gleefully overseeing a speedy drift away from a European future for Georgia, as peaceable civilians are crushed and tear gassed for supporting democratic beliefs.   

Regardless of Georgia’s deteriorating relations with the U.S., senators Jeanne Shaheen and Dick Durbin lately visited Tbilisi to satisfy with authorities officers. And whereas the senators’ request to go to me in jail was predictably rejected, I recognize their curiosity in my well being and well-being. I additionally commend present Congressional leaders, reminiscent of representatives Joe Wilson and Steve Cohen and senators Roger Wicker and Ben Cardin, for his or her efforts in opposition to the assaults on Georgia’s strategic partnerships and the jailing of political opponents, in addition to their opposition to Georgia’s international agent legislation — a rebuke to the Georgian folks’s EU and NATO aspirations — and the nation’s speedy democratic decline.  

With out the assistance of Congress and the Biden administration, alongside the EU and U.Okay. parliaments, the present authorities will proceed to show a blind eye not solely to democracy however the rule of legislation, and the elemental pillars of human rights will proceed to erode in Georgia. 

It’s also more and more obvious that I’ll die quickly if I don’t obtain correct medical care exterior of the nation.  

I proceed to name on the U.S. and the worldwide neighborhood to do what they’ll to avoid wasting my life by making use of diplomatic strain on the Georgian authorities, and imposing financial sanctions in opposition to Ivanishvili and his associates.  

My loss of life could trigger political chaos in Georgia, however my martyrdom will definitely be thought-about a victory for Putin — a strong image to all leaders on this area, and probably the world, who fail to face as much as Russian imperialism.    

If, nonetheless, the U.S. Congress and the Biden administration can work with the EU to safe my launch by means of sanctions, financial embargoes, the suspension of funding and visa restrictions, it is not going to solely be one other blow to Putin, however it would additionally ship a robust sign that the U.S. and Europe stay dedicated to the beliefs of democracy, decency and justice. 

Beliefs that President Biden as soon as advised me I may depend on.

*This piece was obtained from Mikheil Saakashvili’s U.S. authorized counsel, Massimo F. D’Angelo.