Patriarch Appeals Saakashvili to End Hunger Strike

Georgian Orthodox Patriarch Ilia II has called on jailed former President Mikheil Saakashvili to end hunger strike.

Patriarch’s secretary Mikael Botkoveli, who visited Saakashvili in prison today to pass on the letter penned by Ilia II, told reporters “it is an appeal and an advise of the Patriarch that [Saakashvili] finishes hunger strike.”

Botkoveli also told journalists that the Orthodox Church will not appeal President Salome Zurabishvili to pardon Saakashvili “because it is the President who exercises this right.”

Yesterday President Zurabishvili reiterated her pledge to never pardon Saakashvili.

The jailed former President, considering himself as “political prisoner” is hunger striking since October 1, the day of his arrest on the eve of local elections.

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