Ex-Pres Saakashvili compares his fate to 1st President Gamsakhurdia, claims struggle for freedom is ‘duty’

Georgia’s arrested former president Mikheil Saakashvili has said that both he and Georgia’s first president Zviad Gamsakhurdia were targeted by forces opposed to the country’s independence, claiming that despite persecution, fighting for the nation’s freedom remained “an honourable duty for every citizen.”

In a social media post marking the anniversary of events of April 9, 1989, when Soviet troops violently dispersed a peaceful pro-independence protest in Tbilisi, and the declaration of the country’s independence on the same day in 1991 Saakashvili reflected on the country’s early years of statehood and praised Gamsakhurdia for proclaiming independence, noting that Georgia became the second Soviet republic after Lithuania to take that step.

Saakashvili also said he had congratulated Gamsakhurdia at the time while studying in Kyiv, but acknowledged that Georgia’s first president faced immense challenges due to political inexperience and what he described as a hostile environment surrounding him.

Drawing parallels between their political careers, Saakashvili claimed both men were subjected to smear campaigns and personal attacks, and alleged that “the empire and its local tentacles” sought to eliminate them.

“Zviad was physically destroyed, I was poisoned and brought to the brink of death, and I remain in inhuman captivity even now,” Saakashvili wrote.

He added that no hardship would change his belief that fighting for Georgia’s freedom is not only worthwhile, but a responsibility shared by all Georgians.