Tsulukiani Commission Presents 470-Page Report, Builds Case Against UNM, Others
Georgian Dream MP Tea Tsulukiani presented on September 2 the 470-page report of the one-party parliament’s investigative commission to the reconvened fall session of the Parliament. The report portrays the 2003 “Rose Revolution” as “a coup” and squarely condemns the rule of the United National Movement (UNM) from 2004 to 2012. It holds the UNM administration responsible for serious human rights abuses, blames it for provoking the August 2008 war with Russia, and for politically influencing the military operations as the war unfolded to a disastrous result. Going further, the report also accuses present-day opposition parties and NGOs of undermining Georgia’s national interests in cahoots with UNM.
Tsulukiani, a veteran Georgian Dream official who chaired the controversial commission whose initial remit to probe the misdeeds of UNM has predictably crept onto the broad condemnation of all GD opponents. Eight opposition figures, including six active political leaders, were sentenced to prison terms of several months for refusing to testify before the commission. The GD officials, including Tsulukiani and GD PM Irakli Kobakhidze, indicated that the findings will be filed with the Constitutional Court, seeking to ban UNM and “affiliated” opposition parties. This was also the campaign promise by GD patron, Bidzina Ivanishvili, ahead of the 2024 elections.
The report is based on a fundamental assumption that in 2003, there was an “externally orchestrated” coup in Georgia. It reads: “After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the reach and interest of the foreign forces in the post-Soviet space grew. Some countries were submerged by the wave of so-called ‘colored revolutions’ […], which, in addition to the officially declared objective of democratisation, had a dimension of geostrategic expansion, aiming at creating an externally managed unified camp of states that would be in confrontation with Russia.” The report continues, “A ‘color revolution’ is a pre-established pattern of orchestrated events that is being used in every country where the foreign powers aim to dismantle the government.”
The report is broadly structured around topical areas, including violence by the state, violations of privacy, corruption and business racketeering, media freedom, and territorial integrity, and concludes with a description of actions deemed hostile to the state, which former officials and UNM-affiliated individuals allegedly took since GD came to power in 2012.
Violence
Tsulukiani said “torture and inhuman treatment was systematic and systemic” in 2004–2012 as part of UNM’s “zero tolerance” policy carried out by the Interior Ministry and prison authorities, adding that it was “universal” and “established and elevated to the level of state policy by political officials, first of all by Mikheil Saakashvili.”
“These crimes were not the misdeeds of individual persons but a well-organized, collusion-based terror in which high-level officials took part, turning them into a violent regime,” Tsulukiani said, adding that the report includes specific names. She said the judiciary “did not react” to such cases, “blatantly violating Georgian law and international norms, including the European Convention.”
“The zero-tolerance criminal policy […] aimed to establish terror in society, eliminate its undesirable members, and, under a total sense of insecurity, ensure the unconditional obedience of humiliated individuals to the authorities.”
Tsulukiani claimed the political authorities, including then-President Mikheil Saakashvili, were “fully informed” about these crimes but “did not take any measures against them.”
The commission accused officials from 2004–2012 of “intentionally violating” fundamental human rights, which it said “claimed the lives of many completely innocent people.”
“To demonstrate power, intimidate, and subjugate, the UNM government members and other high-ranking officials unlawfully jailed people, tortured them, subjected them to inhuman treatment, raped, or killed them.”
Tsulukiani further claimed that in “almost all cases” of organized murders and violence, “the UNM regime fabricated the factual circumstances and evidence, spread its favored versions of cases, or intentionally misled the investigation, making it impossible to establish the truth in some cases to this day.”
Tsulukiani, a former justice minister who once worked at the Council of Europe, said that since 1999, when Georgia joined the CoE, the European Court of Human Rights has found Georgia in violation in 284 cases, “80% of which (227 cases) relate to facts that happened in 2004–2012.” She said the articles of the European Convention on Human Rights under which Georgia, under UNM, was mainly found guilty included the right to life (Article 2), the prohibition of torture (Article 3), the right to liberty and security (Article 5), and the right to a fair and public hearing (Article 6).
Privacy Rights
The Tsulukiani-authored report claims the UNM “regime” violated people’s privacy “systematically” and “en masse.”
“The materials it [UNM] covertly and illegally collected, video and photo footage of private life, including intimate life recordings, telephone conversations, and the practice of taping sexual violence of inmates, among others, affected almost all segments of society: opposition party leaders, members, activists, and public figures with different political views,” Tsulukiani said.
She claimed such material was obtained “in different periods” of UNM rule and aimed to “identify and control the plans, goals and political connections of people with different opinions,” as well as to “gather reputation-damaging materials on representatives of various spheres of society.”
“This was due to the UNM’s fear that its violent regime and the illusion of staying in power for a long time would not be threatened.”
Corruption and Racketeering
Describing UNM rule as “unhealthy,” Tsulukiani said the previous government was “corrupt,” claiming there were “unlawful processes aimed at racketeering and terrorizing businesses and other private property owners.”
“It was confirmed that there was a so-called blacklist of to-be-terrorized businessmen, while racketeering was used for personal and political revenge,” she said, adding that the wealth she claimed officials were depriving people of was used “either for party [UNM] purposes or for the commercial interests and personal wellbeing of Mikheil Saakashvili and other leaders’ families, and their associates.” S
Media Freedom
“Before 2004, Georgian media was diverse,” Tsulukiani said, adding that “after the coup called the Rose Revolution, the situation drastically changed.”
She claimed that “right after coming to power, the UNM began using different methods to baselessly restrict media freedom and interfere in the editorial policies of media companies,” noting that TV stations were particularly affected.
“Ultimately, in the final years of UNM rule, Mikheil Saakashvili evolved into a monopolist in the media, exercising total control with members of his political team and their associates over both the form and content of information disseminated through the country’s media.”
“In fact, almost all influential media outlets became part of the UNM regime.”
Territorial Integrity: 2008 August War, 2019 Chorchana Checkpoint Episode
Repeating the long-standing claims by GD officials, Tsulukiani claimed that the report established that the UNM and then-President Mikheil Saakashvili had instigated the 2008 war with Russia and had interfered with the military decision-making process.
“Since 2004, Mikheil Saakashvili and the UNM had already taken damaging steps against Georgia’s territorial integrity and peace toward the Tskhinvali region and Kodori gorge,” Tsulukiani said, adding that their “militaristic” and “irresponsible” policy “escalated further” after the death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania.
“It became apparent that in August 2008 the Georgian army found itself in a war directed by politicians distant from military affairs, who, in the hope of outside support and while disregarding the opinions of the Georgian military [commanders], attacked the city of Tskhinvali and made this the main direction of military operations,” Tsulukiani said, citing testimonies before the Commission.
She blamed the actions of Georgian officials at the time for creating circumstances that “resulted in a three-day war, defeat, the occupation of additional territories by Russia, an increase in the number of internally displaced persons, unjustified casualties among both the armed forces and civilians, and significant material losses.”
“The UNM government knew at least since the end of July 2008 that tension in the conflict zone was at its peak […] but it took no measures to evacuate the civilian population from the war zone in a timely manner,” said Tsulukiani.
She also referred to PACE Resolution No. 1633 on the consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia, saying that since Georgian delegates to PACE voted for the document, they thereby “admitted to shelling Tskhinvali, accusing their own country’s army of committing alleged war crimes.”
Tsulukiani said another case in which Georgia’s territorial integrity was violated after 2008 occurred in 2019, with the installation of a police checkpoint near the Tskhinvali occupation line in the village of Chorchana, when GD was already in power and the interior minister was Giorgi Gakharia, who broke with the party in 2021 and is now in opposition.
“The facts established by the investigative commission on the Chorchana checkpoint installation raise many legitimate questions about whether there was an attempt to artificially provoke a fire outbreak in Georgia, just as happened in 2008, and what role former Interior Minister [Giorgi Gakharia] himself played,” Tsulukiani said.
2012–Present: UNM in Opposition, its ‘Satellites’ and NGOs
The key detail in GD’s intention to ban opposition parties through the Constitutional Court is its branding of all opposition forces under the “collective UNM” label. Tsulukiani identified major opposition forces – including the Coalition for Change, Lelo-led Strong Georgia, and Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia – as such “satellites” or UNM-affiliated parties. The report also groups NGOs alongside them.
“From 2012 to today, against the background of the destructive endeavors of Mikheil Saakashvili, the United National Movement, and the physical and legal persons associated with it, no healthy political system could be established in Georgia,” Tsulukiani said.
“From 2012 to 2025, Georgia has constantly had to deal with challenges such as multiple attempts at the violent change of the constitutional order, mainly carried out by the destructive opposition and foreign-funded non-governmental organizations,” she added.
“The situation especially worsened after February 2022, when the state had to overcome extremely painful processes and continuously resist attempts to drag Georgia into the war.”
Tsulukiani said the report lists specific NGOs as well as opposition forces that, “together with Mikheil Saakashvili and the UNM, have hindered establishing a healthy political system in Georgia.” She named only the Coalition for Change, Strong Georgia, and Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia, the three major opposition forces that, along with the UNM, crossed the 5 percent threshold in the last parliamentary elections in 2024.
“They took every measure to prevent Georgia from obtaining a visa-free regime with the European Union, from becoming a candidate for EU membership, and from achieving other accomplishments that benefit the country and its future,” Tsulukiani said, adding, “Moreover, in line with the will of outside forces, these individuals conducted and took part in war propaganda.”
“Neither while it was in power nor afterward has the UNM taken a single step to admit or repent for the actions it committed against people’s lives and dignity, Georgia’s constitutional order and territorial integrity,” Tsulukiani said.
“On the contrary, everything was done and still is being done to portray Mikheil Saakashvili and the UNM’s rule as an era of development, to cleanse the party of its violent past, and, with the support of external forces and their funded NGOs, to allow it to continue unhindered its current activities against the constitutional order, stability, and peace,” Tsulukiani concluded.
Also Read:
- 04/07/2025 – Gakharia Defends Chorchana Checkpoint to Tsulukiani Commission as GD Revisits its Legacy
- 14/04/2025 – Gakharia Appears Before GD Parliamentary Investigative Commission
- 01/04/2025 – Hard-Pressed, GD Brings the War Back into Focus