
The Parliament of Georgia voted by 79 in favour to extend the mandate of the Interim Fact-Finding Commission, which is examining the activities of the regime, its political officials, and individuals affiliated with political parties from 2003 to the present. The extension will be in effect for one additional month starting 5 May 2025.
Prior to the vote, Commission Chairperson Tea Tsulukiani presented an interim report detailing the work carried out so far.
According to T. Tsulukiani, the primary reason for the extension was the parliamentary resolution adopted on 1 April 2025, which significantly broadened the Commission's mandate to include the period from 2012 to 2024.
Between 13 February and 28 April 2025, the Commission held 17 sessions and questioned 55 individuals, including 37 victims.
The Commission has forwarded information to the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding individuals who failed to comply with summonses. These include Badri Japaridze, Mamuka Khazaradze, Irakli Okruashvili, Nika Gvaramia, Zurab (Girchi) Japaridze, Giorgi Vashadze, Nikanor Melia, and Giorgi (Givi) Targamadze.
As of 27 April 2025, the Commission had received 397 statements, of which 307 have been processed. Among these: 99 relate to violations of property rights, 92 to torture or inhuman treatment, 11 to the August 2008 war, and 105 to other subjects.
T. Tsulukiani noted that around 100 substantial documents have been processed, and work is ongoing on various thematic chapters of the final report. Approximately 200 pages have already been drafted. One of the most extensive chapters is expected to address the violent nature of the regime, including cases of torture and killings both inside and outside detention facilities.
Another significant chapter will focus on the August 2008 war. T. Tsulukiani emphasised that the goal is to evaluate the decisions and actions of the political leadership at the time. According to her, by 1 October 2012, no legal document existed that officially acknowledged the legitimacy of the Georgian military or the civilian victims. She stressed that it was the Georgian Dream government that successfully secured such recognition at the International Criminal Court in The Hague and at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
The Commission Chairperson asserted that, based on current findings, political leaders conducted the war without consulting the military command. She stated that Georgia’s General Staff had developed a comprehensive military plan that included evacuation and medical support for civilians, but this plan was disregarded.
"This was a complete military strategy, pushed aside by politicians, who instead led the war themselves. The conclusion already emerging is deeply troubling. It seems the goal was not to minimise casualties but, quite the opposite, to engage in conflict with maximum civilian losses", - she remarked.
According to Tsulukiani, Georgian Dream’s declared objective is for the Commission’s final report to serve as grounds for preventing those political figures—who once governed and now, as she stated, continue to destabilise the country—from returning to political life.
“The conclusion must form a basis to bar these individuals, as well as their current and future political formations, from participating in politics. This must be done—and Georgian Dream will see it through", - T. Tsulukiani concluded.
She also responded to questions from fellow MPs.
Speaker of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili expressed gratitude for the Commission’s work:
“Thank you for what you are doing, despite the pressure from multiple sides aiming to silence the victims, the public, Parliament itself, and to shield Saakashvili’s criminal regime from accountability", - he stated.