Justice Minister Rati Bregadze responded to accusations by his opponents about Saakashvili's "kidnapping", calling it harmful.

"I want to make a statement on the harmful accusations spread in recent days. I will start with the term "kidnapping", which our opponents try to instill and want to have a detrimental effect on public consciousness; And they want to convince the public that we have kidnapped someone ... In general, how is it possible to say that transfer from one institution to another is a kidnapping ... this is harmful," said the Minister.

The Minister of Justice emphasized that a lawful measure has been taken against Saakashvili, the aim of which was to minimize the health risks of the convict:

"He refused to undergo medical treatment and the risk of his health deteriorating was growing. It was in order to avoid deterioration of his health condition and to minimize similar risks that it was decided to transfer him to the N18 medical facility, where he would be under much closer supervision and this risk would be fully minimized.

According to Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze, the Special Penitentiary Service publishes the footage of Mikheil Saakashvili’s transfer to N18 facility in order to inform the public. According to Rati Bregadze, the investigation into the fact of physical and verbal abuse by Saakashvili against the employees of the institution and the damage to medical equipment has already been launched by the General Inspection of the Ministry and the State Inspector's Office.

"Our goal was, is and always will be to inform the public and tell them the truth. To this end, the Special Penitentiary Service publishes footage that will provide our population with information on how prisoner Saakashvili was housed in N18 medical facility; and also, on the fact how Saakashvili physically and verbally abused the employees of the institution and damaged the medical equipment. As I have already told you, the Ministry of Justice has responded to the already mentioned fact and this fact is already being investigated by the State Inspector,” said Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze.

Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze spoke at the briefing about the transfer of Mikheil Saakashvili to N18 medical institution in Gldani.

According to the Minister, the Penitentiary Service has released footage due to high public interest, where it is clearly visible that the emergency vehicle is parked directly in front of the 18 facility and not 30 meters away, as one of the lawyers said. According to him, Mikheil Saakashvili was taken directly to the door of 18 institution and no one could see him there. Consequently, Saakashvili did not spend any time near the building of prisoners. Rati Bregadze also noted that Saakashvili himself did not obey the lawful request of the penitentiary staff and resisted them:

"This is a very big lie, which we will expose in just a few minutes and it will be clearly visible where the emergency vehicle, in which prisoner Saakashvili was transferred to 18 facility, has stopped, and the public will see that it is parked directly at the entrance of the facility where no one could see him at all. The whole campaign is built on a similar type of petty lie. This is about the torture and inhuman treatment that we allegedly inflicted on this prisoner. We are - I emphasize - the people who cared, care and, of course, will continue to care about the health of the prisoner. Our interest is the stable health condition of all prisoners. I would like to say one more thing - the prisoner himself did not obey the lawful request of our employees when he had to get out of the emergency vehicle and be accommodated in this facility,” said Rati Bregadze.

According to the Minister, since his transfer, Mr. Mikheil Saakashvili has had 179 visitors, he is under 24-hour supervision by doctors. Exactly two days after the transfer, a bank card was issued during non-working hours. He has a TV, and when he ran out of money and wanted a refrigerator, the administration, in good faith, complied with his request.

In addition, emergency vehicle was on duty 24 hours a day, as well as doctors who took care of his health.

A council was set up to work with the penitentiary staff to make certain recommendations that the agency took into account each time. Also, a separate working group has been set up in order to monitor Mikheil Saakashvili’s condition.

According to the Minister of Justice, he never said on any TV interview that prisoner Saakashvili had stopped his hunger strike. Rati Bregadze explains that he only said that Saakashvili took natural juices and various porridges. According to him, the mentioned information was made public in response to the MP's question, which the agency was obliged to respond.

"I have never used the term 'stopped hunger strike' in any TV interview. I am responsible for all my words. It was as follows: he takes natural juices and different types of porridge. Here I will tell you where this information came from. We received the MP question we were obliged to answer. The question was: Does he take any supplements that may have a positive effect on the effects of hunger strike? Mr. Sarjveladze addressed us with this question and we, naturally, gave the answer. However, in this response we had not mention anything about stopping a hunger strike. They wanted to prove to the ECHR and to our international partners that, instead of calling for an end of hunger strike, we were forcing him to go on. However, these are the opponents who called on the prisoner through open broadcasts not to dare to end the hunger strike, otherwise his image as of a politician would have been ruined," Rati Bregadze said live on Rustavi 2.

According to him, the Ministry of Justice fully shares the spirit of the decision of the ECHR and the health and safety of Saakashvili, as well as other prisoners, is important for the agency.

"We fully share the spirit of the decision of the Strasbourg court and, naturally, we want this person, like all other prisoners, to be healthy. The health and safety of all prisoners is our responsibility and we must not forget that in addition to Mr. Saakashvili we have more than 9,000 prisoners and we pay due attention to them. "All prisoners are equal before the law," Rati Bregadze said.

According to Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze, the Special Penitentiary Service made the decision not to take Mikheil Saakashvili to court taking into account his health interests.

"Yes, the Special Penitentiary Service made this decision because prisoner Saakashvili refused to continue the essential part of his medical treatment and it was possible that his health condition would have deteriorated, and if this would have happened in court, who would have been responsible for this?" said the Minister, emphasizing that the agency acts in the best interests of the prisoner.

Rati Bregadze named the security factor as one of the reasons for not being transferred. According to the Minister of Justice, the public saw how people gathered in front of the court trying to obstruct the trial. According to the Minister, presence of prisoner Saakashvili at the trial might have aggravated the situation even more: "Naturally, we cannot allow such actions in any case."

Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze stated at the briefing that he fully shares the spirit of the European Court of Human Rights. According to him, this decision once again proves that there is a very high standard in the Georgian penitentiary system. The Minister also clarified that the appellant party had applied to the ECHR with one specific request - to immediately transfer Mikheil Saakashvili from N18 medical facility to a civil clinic, which was not granted by ECHR.

"The Georgian government has been informed by a letter to the Strasbourg court that Mikheil Saakashvili's representatives have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights with one specific request - to immediately transfer Mikheil Saakashvili from N18 medical facility to a civil clinic. The Strasbourg court did not grant the applicant's request and insisted that Mikheil Saakashvili should end his hunger strike. The decision of the Strasbourg court is very humane, aimed at protecting the interests of the convict. It is gratifying that our spirit is fully matched. The agency has repeatedly stated that our interest is in protecting the health of the prisoner. This decision once again confirms the high standard of the Georgian penitentiary system. We welcome and fully share the spirit of the decision and, obviously, as stated in the decision, we will provide information to the European Court by November 24 about the health and safety of the prisoner and, of course, we will continue to take care of him," said Rati Bregadze.

The Minister of Justice responded to the request to transfer Mikheil Saakashvili to a multi-profile civil clinic. According to Rati Bregadze, he will be happy if convicted Saakashvili, in accordance with the call of the European Court, stops the hunger strike, but without any reservations:

"The European Court has called on Mr. Saakashvili to end the hunger strike. We will be very happy if he agrees ... but - without any reservations. Why should this person be taken to a private clinic? Can anyone explain it to me? "

According to Rati Bregadze, in case the hunger strike is stopped, convicted Saakashvili will return to the N12 penitentiary institution, because there will be no risk of his health deteriorating.

"If a person stops a hunger strike, it is very good ... Our spirit is absolutely in line with the decision of the Strasbourg Court. We too, of course, will be very happy if his health condition is stable and he returns to a normal rhythm of life. Once the conditions are right, he will be transferred back to the N12 special penitentiary facility, where he was previously serving his sentence," said the Minister.

On November 10, the Strasbourg court rejected Saakashvili's claim to transfer him to a private clinic and called on that he stops his hunger strike.

"This is the turning point when someone dares to tell such a similar lie, when someone accuses us of torture. And who accuses us of torture? The regime that took prisoners and handcuffed them to the dead?!" - The Minister of Justice Rati Bregadze spoke about it on Rustavi 2.

"I want the public to know the truth. When this emergency vehicle stopped, as Mr. Gvaramia says, it was as if we had stopped this vehicle 30 meters away from the entrance specifically, for the purpose, as he says, of dragging the prisoner for 30 meters. Naturally, this could be already rated as a degrading treatment, right?! It was as if all the other prisoners had to see how Saakashvili was being dragged, which is a complete lie, and the public saw it - how the emergency vehicle stopped directly next to the ramp and it was at that point that he was taken out of the vehicle," said Rati Bregadze.

According to the Minister of Justice, the process of transferring convicted Saakashvili to N18 penitentiary institution was carried out in compliance with his rights. Rati Bregadze indicated to the footage released today to confirm this.

"Footage was spread when he had a talk with the employees in the emergency vehicle for about 15 minutes, they talked to him politely, urging to leave the car; They told him it it had to be done for his health and in response the employees could only hear insulting words,” said the Minister of Justice.

According to Rati Bregadze, convicted Saakashvili was insulting people who work tirelessly for the safety of each of us:

"It is not easy to listen when such insults are undeservedly addressed to persons who care and work for each of us, for the safety of our families, day and night. Naturally, we will not allow anyone to do that; No prisoner or human being should be allowed to treat unfairly our employees and disobey their lawful request."

As for the use of force, after Saakashvili did not obey the staff of the penitentiary institution, according to the Minister of Justice, they used "completely proportional force". Rati Bregadze also noted that the fact is being investigated by the General Inspection of the Ministry of Justice and the State Inspector's Office and the final legal decision will be determined by the investigation.