Georgia’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili has issued a public appeal to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, asking to be added to the list of civilian prisoners of war. His statement, shared on his official Facebook page, expresses gratitude for Ukraine’s continued support while warning of escalating danger to his life.

Saakashvili says he was moved from the prison hospital—where he was receiving treatment for what he describes as confirmed severe poisoning—back to a facility overseen by the same personnel he accuses of orchestrating that poisoning. He claims the poisoning occurred in March 2022 and was verified by American and German laboratories.

He ties his legal persecution directly to the geopolitical fallout of Russia’s full-scale invasion, asserting that Russian leaders, including Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, and Sergey Lavrov, demanded or celebrated his imprisonment. Saakashvili argues the charges against him are politically motivated, citing Georgia’s former prime minister, who allegedly acknowledged that Saakashvili’s prosecution was linked to his work in Ukraine.

In the latest criminal case, Saakashvili says he is accused of sabotage in favor of a “hostile foreign state,” with case materials referencing statements by Zelenskyy and Mykhailo Podolyak—evidence, he claims, that Georgia’s current leadership now openly labels Ukraine as hostile.

Framing his situation as inseparable from the Russia–Ukraine war and the pro-Moscow alignment of Georgian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, Saakashvili emphasizes his Ukrainian citizenship and previous role as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Ukraine’s National Reform Council.

He urges Zelenskyy to take steps to include him—“an illegally detained Ukrainian citizen”—on Ukraine’s list of civilian POWs, thereby granting him the associated international protections.

“Ukrainians never abandon their own. I place my hope in you,” Saakashvili concludes.