The Chairman of the Georgian Dream said those who called for the release of Mikheil Saakashvili on health grounds while knowing he was “faking his health condition” “must apologise to the Georgian public”.

“Saakashvili’s, let’s say, recovery, can have two theoretical reasons: a miracle, or the decision of the European Court of Human Rights. I think the reason is the ECHR decision.

There was a 600-day political campaign. They claimed to the public, many even made them believe that this person was dying every day for 600 days.

Suddenly this person becomes normally healthy. This is a pure fakery [and] speculation, but for 600 days the public, the [country’s] international partners had been led to believe that this person was dying. It is just shameful”, - said Irakli Kobakhidze.

As he stressed, the former President had “no chance of any success” in domestic politics, and added he was “deservedly” serving his sentence.