The Georgian Special Penitentiary Service has released a video of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's transfer to the prison infirmary.

The video released on Thursday shows Saakashvili refusing to leave an ambulance and being dragged out by several security guards. The security guards grab Saakashvili by the legs and arms and carry him from the front door to the elevator and then along the corridor to the ward. The video shows Saakashvili arguing with two men without medical gowns and throwing something off a table in the ward. He demands that the men leave the room and aggressively approaches one of them. More guards enter the room, and the video ends there.

Justice Minister Rati Bregadze commented on the video at a press briefing on Thursday and denied claims from lawyers that the security guards dragged Saakashvili 30 meters toward the infirmary doors.

"That's a blatant lie, as the ambulance stopped by the door to the prison infirmary. Inmate Saakashvili disobeyed a demand to disembark and physically and verbally abused our officer," Bregadze said.

The Penitentiary Service is doing everything necessary to keep Saakashvili in stable condition, Bregadze said. "If Saakashvili stops his hunger strike, he will be taken back to the Rustavi prison," he said.

Saakashvili, currently a citizen of Ukraine, secretly arrived in Georgia from Ukraine on September 29. He was detained in Tbilisi on October 1 and is currently being held in a Rustavi prison.

Georgia earlier declared Saakashvili wanted as a person convicted in absentia in several criminal cases and treated as a suspect in some others. Saakashvili has described his detention as unlawful and the charges brought against him as falsified.