Public Defender's Office on Saakashvili footage: 'It does not contain any clear evidence of patient simulation'
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, December 16, 2022
The Office of the Public Defender released a statement regarding Mikheil Saakashvili's video footage in the clinic. The statement reads that the existence of a legitimate purpose, including meeting the public's high interest, as well as the proportionality and adequacy of this decision, cannot be confirmed for the distribution of footage depicting the presence of the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.
According to the statement issued by the Office of the Ombudsman, the state is obliged to help the prisoner patient, to find appropriate help and not to use the prisoner's medical testimony against him.
The Public Defender's Office said that the published footage does not contain any clear evidence of simulation on the part of the patient.
"As is known to the public, on December 14, 2022, the special penitentiary service released the video recordings of the prisoner Mikhel Saakashvili's ward in the medical facility. According to the service, the footage was made public due to high public interest and these footage reflect the condition of prisoner Mikheil Saakashvili in different periods.
The agency also points out that the mentioned video material shows Mikheil Saakashvili's simulated actions, the purpose of which is to hinder the implementation of justice, to mislead the public and international partners.
Despite the high public interest in the health and legal status of Mikheil Saakashvili, taking into account the official explanation available at this stage of the Special Penitentiary Service, the Office of the Public Defender considers that a legitimate purpose for the distribution of footage, including the satisfaction of the public's high interest, as well as the proportionality and adequacy of this decision cannot be confirmed. Even if there is a legitimate purpose, it is important to maintain a balance between the public interest and a person's privacy and personal data protection rights when disclosing health information.
In this case, taking into account the public explanation available at this stage of the service, the disclosure of the personnel cannot be considered proportionate and adequate due to the following circumstances: as is known to the public, the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia is involved in the process of monitoring Mikheil Saakashvili's treatment.
According to the assessment of the expert group, compared to the previous period, encephalopathy, sensorimotor neuropathy, anemia have worsened, as well as newly discovered autonomic neuropathy with a significant drop in blood pressure upon standing up.
The transition of anorexia to life-threatening cachexia has been predicted by the expert group more than once, and at the time of assessment, the patient was in the phase of active catabolism (the so-called self-digestion of the body), which is confirmed by the very rapid weight loss especially since October.
The expert opinion of December 6, 2022 contains an additional diagnosis, which was not made public due to its sensitive nature (information about the above was provided to the Tbilisi City Court). On December 6, 2022, a group of experts assessed the general condition of the patient as serious.
On December 14, 2022, the validity of the medical diagnoses of the patient Mikheil Saakashvili was called into question by the footage published by the Ministry of Justice. The mentioned reasoning categorically contradicts the medical assessment presented by the expert group. It should be noted that the patient's aggressive behavior is considered one of the possible characteristic behaviors of the identified diagnoses.
Based on the above, it is not allowed to use the medical condition against the prisoner. The state is obliged to help the prisoner patient, to find appropriate help and not to use the prisoner's medical testimony against him," the statement reads.
As mentioned in the information released by the Ombudsman, the majority of the recordings are dated in the beginning of October 2022 or earlier, and according to the Public Defender's expert group, Saakashvili's health 'deteriorated sharply' in October-November.
