Georgia: Hunger-striking Saakashvili passes out in prison

MOSCOW (AP) — A lawyer for imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on a hunger strike for seven weeks, says he fell and lost consciousness at the end of the lawyer’s visit. Beka Basilaia said Thursday that Saakashvili was taken from the visiting room on a stretcher and that his condition is stable. However, a medical panel formed by the public defender’s office said Thursday that Saakashvili’s health is deteriorating and that he should be transferred from the prison hospital to a civilian clinic where he can be adequately treated. Saakashvili left Georgia in 2013 for Ukraine and was later convicted in absentia of abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison.