The former president of Georgia, Misha Saakashvili, has claimed he's being poisoned by Vladimir Putin whereas in jail.

Imprisoned since 2021 on expenses he contests, Mr Saakashvili is detained in a Tbilisi hospital having been transferred there due to ailing well being.

Images of Georgia’s ex-leader throughout a video hyperlink court docket look earlier this yr confirmed a gaunt gray man with glazed eyes and hollowed cheeks.

It was a far cry from the charismatic politician with jet black hair and a profitable smile who former US President George Bush stated he "admired".

In an unique interview with Express.co.uk Mr Saakashvili claimed his nine-stone weight reduction and analysis of imminent irreversible organ injury isn't any accident. He believes it has been brought on by "poison".

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Having risen to energy in Georgia because the chief of the Rose Revolution nationalist motion, which sought to take away Russian affect from the nation, in 2004 Mr Saakashvili was praised by Western leaders as a flagbearer of democracy on Putin’s doorstep.

However, his determination to embark on a battle together with his highly effective neighbour 4 years later within the disputed South Ossetia area was seen as reckless by lots of his allies.

The warfare enraged Putin who advised ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy he thought Mr Saakashvili must be "hung by his balls".

In handwritten solutions to our questions, Saakashvili advised Express.co.uk he believes the chief of Russia is exacting his revenge by having him poisoned.

“My poisoning was greetings from Putin,” he advised us, “I am being held in a clinic turned into a prison totally isolated from the political process.

“No MP either Georgian or foreign, including US senators, MEPs, or Ukrainian dignitaries are allowed to visit me.”

Saakashvili isn't the one rival to Putin who alleges they're being slowly killed in jail.

Incarcerated since 2021, the Russian opposition chief, Aleksei Navalny, has reported related well being situations as Saakashvili.

Earlier this yr Mr Navalny’s lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, stated his client was suffering severe stomach pains and that he had lost a stone in weight.

Mr Kobzev accused jail docs of giving the opposition chief “huge doses” of inappropriate antibiotics and stated the Kremlin was in search of “destroy Navalny’s health”.

Watching the warfare in Ukraine and the following backlash in opposition to his long-time foe from jail, Mr Saakashvili can’t assist however really feel his repeated warnings about Russian aggression over the previous 15 years in the past ought to have been heeded by the West.

His frustration grew as Britain and different nations gamely welcomed Russian oligarchs to their shores while Putin engaged in conflicts over disputed border territories.

“That created an impression that you can rampage on tanks through a European country and simultaneously go shopping at Harrods. It was hardly discouraging them,” he stated.

Although there have been no army developments in Georgia since Saakashvili left energy a decade in the past, considerations have arisen about Russian affect within the Georgian authorities.

A latest instance is a proposed ‘foreign agents law’ going via parliament which might require people, civil society organizations, and media retailers who obtain not less than 20 per cent of their funds from overseas to register with the Ministry of Justice as "agents of foreign influence".

The laws that mimics a legislation in Russia has been closely criticised by human rights teams who have warned about its onerous reporting necessities, inspections, and administrative and felony legal responsibility.

Saakashvili can be involved about its affect. “That law would officially turn Georgia into Russia. But I believe, unlike Russians, Georgian people would never accept it,” he stated.

Stay tuned to Express.co.uk for extra from our unique interview with Saakashvili.

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