Former Georgian President Saakashvili asked Zelensky to include him in the lists of civilian captives

The former head of the Odessa regional state administration, Mikheil Saakashvili, who is currently in a Georgian prison, has asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to include him in the list of civilian prisoners of the Russian-Ukrainian war "with appropriate legal consequences".

According to Saakashvili, his persecution and fate are directly linked to the war. He claims he was poisoned in March 2022 after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, as confirmed by US and German laboratories. The former Georgian president added that his reprisal was personally insisted upon by Vladimir Putin, with Dmitry Medvedev and Sergei Lavrov boasting of his imprisonment.

Saakashvili called the criminal cases against him in Georgia "absolutely fictitious" and said it was linked to his activism in Ukraine. He said the new charge against him - sabotage in favour of a foreign state - explicitly declares Ukraine a "hostile foreign state".

"In this context, it is quite obvious that my persecution is related to the war," Saakashvili emphasised and asked the Ukrainian authorities to protect him as the former chairman of the Odessa Regional State Administration and chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Council of Reforms, "illegally held by Georgia's pro-Russian regime".

He added: "I know that Ukrainians do not leave their own behind and I am counting on you."

Saakashvili is serving time on four cases he calls politically motivated. His imprisonment will last until 1 April 2034. Recall, the former President secretly returned to Georgia in September 2021 and was arrested on 1 October of the same year after crossing the border through the Ukrainian port of Chernomorsk.