Saakashvili's transfer to prison hospital prompted by his refusal to receive treatment – Georgian justice minister

TBILISI. Nov 9 (Interfax) – Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili had to be transferred on Monday from the Rustavi prison, where he was continuing his hunger strike, to the prison hospital in Tbilisi because of his refusal to receive medical treatment, Justice Minister Rati Bregadze said.

"Mikheil Saakashvili was refusing to receive most of the treatment prescribed to him, and therefore, this increased the risk that his health could have worsened," Bregadze said on the Imedi television channel on Monday evening.

The decision to transfer Saakashvili to the prison hospital was made in the interests of his wellbeing, he said.

The special penitentiary service made sure that Saakashvili’s transfer to the prison hospital was as safe as possible, Bregadze said.

A spokesperson for the Georgian human rights commissioner told journalists that Saakashvili was transferred from the Rustavi prison to the prison hospital in Tbilisi in an ambulance. He said he met with Saakashvili in a separate room of the prison hospital, and the ex-president was "protesting against his transfer to this institution."

Georgian media reported earlier that several helicopters were seen flying over the Rustavi prison and over the prison hospital in Tbilisi, from which they concluded that Saakashvili might have been transported from Rustavi to Tbilisi on board a helicopter.