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The Wall Street Journal published a letter from former President Mikhail Saakashvili in which the former president responded to the release of Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murzas. Saakashvili expressed regret that a prisoner exchange could not be carried out while Alexei Navalny was alive.
From my cell in Tbilisi, I learned about the recent prisoner exchange between Russia and the West. I was delighted to learn that my friend Vladimir Kara-Murza was among those released. As we know, resisting Russian influence is often a dangerous endeavor. “My friend Alexei Navalny will not have a homecoming parade or a tearful meeting with his family because he won’t live that long,” the article reads.
Saakashvili drew parallels between repression in Russia and Georgia. The third president said that, like Kara-Murza, he had been poisoned.
I am also a victim of Russian repression, having been sentenced to six years in prison on trumped-up charges, with a further trial threatening to add an additional 11 years. “Like Mr. Karamurza, I was poisoned by my captors and will likely live with the symptoms for the rest of my life,” the article reads.
It turns out that the prisoner exchange between Russia and the West gave the third president hope of the day when he could taste freedom again.
Volodymyr Zelensky is one of those who worked for my release. But there are others who are working to prevent that from happening. Georgia’s 2003 Rose Revolution had many admirers, but it also had enemies.
“The prisoner exchange on August 1 has given me renewed hope that one day I will taste freedom. I live in hope because without it I have nothing,” Saakashvili told the publication.
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