"United National Movement" member Eka Kherkheulidze said on January 5, after visiting former President Mikheil Saakashvili's clinic, that his state of health was alarming considering that he once again lost consciousness.

"He passed out a few minutes before I entered. It is a serious situation in terms of his health. The doctors are informed and working. There will be a diagnostic test tomorrow morning to see what caused it. This is an episode of loss of consciousness and is very disturbing. This fact should signal to everyone that this person does not have much time left if we do not consider the objective state of his health," Eka Sarkeulidze told journalists after leaving the "Vivamedi" clinic.

Demonstrations were held on January 4 in major Georgian cities and at Georgian embassies outside the country, demanding the transfer of imprisoned Mikheil Saakashvili for treatment. 

Currently, the Tbilisi City Court is reviewing the case on the motion to postpone or cancel the Mikheil Saakashvili sentence submitted by the lawyer Shalva Khachapuridze based on the expert's findings. The independent examination conducted for the ex-president and the conclusion of the Council of the Public Defender confirms his severe condition.

Giuli Alasania, the mother of former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, held an emergency briefing about her son's health condition. Alasania made a statement to the media after Saakashi lost consciousness at the Vivamed clinic. According to Saakashvili's mother, the episode of losing consciousness lasted unusually long, and the doctors had difficulty "reviving" him.

“Today, in the Vivamed clinic, he lost consciousness. It was the second severe case after Gldani [Prison Hospital]. There were small episodes in between, but it was not that serious, and today it was very difficult to psych the person up. I do not know if the third case will, in any case, be repeated and may end fatally. We are in a very difficult situation. It is not that my son will no longer be there, we will no longer have a state. This is international murder; international murder is happening in front of everyone. Yesterday, demonstrations were held all over the world demanding to save my son, to transfer him, but there is no reaction from our country,” stated Alasania.

Earlier members of the Saakashvili family were appealing to Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II to help release the former president. The patriarch wrote a letter to Saakashvili where he thanked the politician for congratulating him on his enthronement day.

"Mr. Mikheil, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the Ascension Day prayer. I also congratulate you on your birthday and the following Christmas and New Year. I wish you health, courage, and, first of all, God's intervention to strengthen your spiritual strength and get to know the true other reality", reads the letter sent to Mikheil Saakashvili on behalf of Ilia II, which is dated 2022.

The letter, however, caused criticism from many public figures and the members of the Saakashvili family. For example, Alasania argued that the patriarch's appeal was insufficient to salvage the situation. “We received the patriarch's prayer, where he wishes courage and endurance. How long will you last? Is not this person infinite? How long will it last? What durability are we talking about? It was a little unclear for me to feel the new reality. What is this new reality that we are no longer a state and have finally become a province of Russia? This is our reality today,” said Alasania.

International support for Saakashvili’s release also has grown in size. The world should not allow the former president of Georgia to die in prison, Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Russia, former representative of the Barack Obama administration, and one of the authors of the policy of resetting with Russia, writes in an editorial published in the American publication "Washington Post." According to McFaul, "Now that the world's attention has shifted to Vladimir Putin's barbaric war in Ukraine, the Russian leader continues to push his destabilizing and anti-democratic agenda elsewhere in the world, including tiny but strategically important Georgia."