TBILISI. Jan 9 (Interfax) - The Georgian parliament will set up an ad hoc commission to investigate criminal actions committed by members of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's administration in 2003-2012, Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream ruling party Mamuka Mdinaradze said.
"The ad hoc investigative commission will summon and interview representatives of the regime and other persons involved in crimes of the regime," Mdinaradze said at a press briefing on Thursday.
The ad hoc commission will be operating for six months until its conclusions are presented in September and submitted to respective agencies, he said.
Mdinaradze said the regime was involved in organizing systemic crimes in Georgia, such as torture of prisoners, killings of "people undesirable to the regime," racketeering, corruption, and invasion of the privacy of citizens.
An investigation into the start of hostilities in South Ossetia in 2008 deserves a special mention, Mdinaradze said.
"Seeking to avoid speculations related to the investigation into circumstances of the beginning of the war in 2008, please note that the military who fulfilled the orders of the former administration would not be questioned by the commission," he said.
The evaluation of "criminal actions of the regime will be crucial for the aversion of threats facing Georgia, the formation of a normal political system, and further national development," he said.
Mikheil Saakashvili took office after the Rose Revolution in November 2003, which overthrew the government of Eduard Shevardnadze.
He was president for two consecutive terms from 2004 to 2013 and left Georgia after his second term was over.
Saakashvili secretly arrived in Georgia from abroad on September 29, 2021. He was detained in Tbilisi on October 1 and then put in jail in the city of Rustavi, where he went on a hunger strike. On November 8, Saakashvili was transferred to a prison hospital in Tbilisi without the consent of his relatives or lawyers. He was taken to a military hospital in the town of Gori on November 20. On May 12, 2022, Saakashvili was moved to the Vivamedi clinic in Tbilisi, where he is currently staying.
Several criminal cases were opened against Saakashvili in Georgia. He called his detention unlawful and the charges brought against him falsified.