TBILISI, Nov 20, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Georgia's jailed opposition leader and
ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili ended his 50-day hunger strike Saturday
after he was moved to a military hospital from a prison clinic, his doctor
said.

  The flamboyant pro-Western reformer launched a hunger strike after being
jailed upon his return from exile in Ukraine on October 1, saying his arrest
was political.

  On Thursday, Saakashvili, 53, fainted and doctors urged authorities to move
him to a regular clinic, saying his life was in danger.

  Georgian authorities had initially rejected the medical recommendations,
but Justice Minister Rati Bregadze said Friday they were open to moving
Saakashvili to a military hospital "where his health and security will be
protected at most by the state."

  In the early hours of Saturday, Saakashvili "was transferred from a prison
hospital to a military clinic" in the city of Gori, some 90 kilometres (55
miles) west of the capital Tbilisi, his lawyer Dito Sadzaglishvili told AFP.

  His personal doctor, Nokoloz Kipshidze, said "(Former) president
Saakashvili formally called off his hunger strike right after he was
transferred to the Gori military hospital."

  "He still is in a life-threatening condition and was placed in an intensive
care ward," Kipshidze told AFP, adding that Saakashvili's "refeeding will
begin later on Saturday."

  - 'Illegal imprisonment' -

  "I will never accept my illegal imprisonment," Saakashvili said on Facebook
Friday evening, adding that he was ready to "appear before a fair trial and
accept any verdict it delivers."

  In 2018, Saakashvili was sentenced in absentia to six years in jail for
"abuse of office" -- charges he had rejected as trumped up and politically
motivated.

  The United States Department of State has urged the Georgian authorities to
"treat Mr. Saakashvili fairly and with dignity, including right to fair
trial."

  "As soon as I am set free, I'll join you -- as equal among equals -- in
rebuilding our country," Saakashvili wrote in an address to the nation.

  He thanked Georgians for the "unbelievable show of solidarity and humanity"
and called for a campaign "to liberate the country" from the rule of oligarch
Bidzina Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream party.

  "I believe in our victory as never before."

  Georgia's richest man Ivanishvili -- former prime minister and founder of
the Georgian Dream -- is widely seen as the man in charge in Georgia, despite
having no official political role.

  Critics accuse the government he allegedly controls of using prosecutions
to punish political opponents and critical journalists.

  - 'Political revenge' -

  Doctor Giorgi Grigolia, who had seen Saakashvili on Thursday, told AFP that
his condition was "life threatening" and that "he must be moved to a civilian
clinic without delay."

  He cited a number of neurological and heart conditions that "could become
irreversible, fatal without a proper care, which is impossible in the medical
facility" where was being treated at the time.

  The European Court of Human Rights ruled last week that Georgia must ensure
Saakashvili's "safety in prison, and to provide him with appropriate medical
care for the post-hunger-strike recovery period."

  Saakashvili was moved last week to a prison hospital where, Amnesty
International said, he had been "denied dignity" as well as adequate care.

  The rights group on Twitter described it as "selective justice" and
"apparent political revenge."

  Saakashvili has said he was assaulted by prison guards and that he feared
for his life.

  Georgia's president from 2004-2013, he left the country after his second
and last term expired and had since lived in exile in Ukraine, where he
headed a government agency steering reforms.

  Saakashvili's arrest after his return to Georgia has deepened a political
crisis that erupted after parliamentary polls last year that the opposition
denounced as fraudulent.

  It has also spurred some of the largest anti-government protests in a
decade.

  Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili sparked an uproar recently by saying
Saakashvili "has the right to commit suicide" and that the government had
been forced to arrest him because he had refused to quit politics.