 President of GeorgiaPlace of birth: Tbilisi
Education: Graduated from the Kiev International Relations Institute (international law faculty). Holds a Master’s degree in Law from Columbia University (New York), where he studied on the US Congress grant; holds a Ph. D. in Law from the George Washington University (Washington, D.C.); attended the Strasbourg Human Rights Institute.
Career: Worked for the Norwegian Human Rights Institute (Oslo), “Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler” legal consultancy (New York).
1995 - returned to Georgia, was elected Member of Parliament, Chairman of the Parliament Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters.
Aug. 1998 - headed the pro-presidential Parliament faction “Union of Citizens of Georgia”.
1999 – elected Member of Parliament for the second term
Since Jan. 2000 – Representative of Georgia in PACE.
Oct. 2000 – appointed Minister of Justice of Georgia.
Sep. 2001 – resigned, accusing President Eduard Shevardnadze and members of the Cabinet of corruption; elected member of Tbilisi City Assembly (sacrebulo).
Since 2002 – Chairman of Tbilisi City Assembly.
Nov. 2003 – leader of the Rose revolution.
Nov. 26, 2003 – proposed as a presidential contender by the National Movement and “Burjanadze - Democrats” coalition.
Jan. 4, 2004 – elected President of Georgia by the majority of 95%.
November 24, 2007 – stepped down ahead of the early presidential election set for January 5.
January 13, 2008 – officially announced President of Georgia subsequent to the results of the January 5 election.
Media reports: The major claims made on Saakashvili are connected to his political past – collaboration with Shevardnadze’s regime; he is also accused by the media of hasty approval of the amendments into the Constitution to broaden the power of President in February 2004. |
