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Top 10 Amazing Facts about Mikheil Saakashvili

Mikheil Saakashvili is a Georgian politician. He served as Georgia’s president for almost a decade. Born on 21^st December 1967 in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saakashvili was the president from 2004 to 2007 and from 2008 to 2013.

Saakashvili studied law in Kyiv, Ukraine before returning to Georgia. A year after his return in 1995, he was elected to the Georgian parliament. From 1995 to 1998, he was the chairman of parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs. From 2000 to 2001, Saakashvili  began improving prison conditions and reforming the legal system. President Eduard Shevardnadze opposed him in 2001, following which he founded the United National Movement (UNM). In the elections that followed in 2004, Saakashvili became president after winning 96 percent of the vote.

Years later on 2 October 2012, Saakashvili conceded defeat to Bidzina Ivanishvili the day before the elections. Saakashvili was not allowed to seek a third presidential term in the 2013 elections. Shortly after the elections, he left Georgia. He accepted the position as senior statesman and lecturer at Tufts University in the United States. He began lecturing in December 2013.

Petro Poroshenko the Ukrainian, the president granted Saakashvili Ukrainian citizenship in 2015. He was appointed as the governor of the Odesa region in Ukraine. His citizenship was revoked after a fallout with the president. In 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky Ukraine’s new president restored Saakashvili’s Ukraine citizenship.

Below are ten interesting facts about Mikheil Saakashvili.

1. He studied Law in the United States and was hired by a New York Based Law Firm

Image of Mikheil Saakashvili. Photo by David Plas/

Saakashvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1967. His mother was a historian and his father was a doctor. Before studying international law, Saakashvili undertook his Soviet military service in Ukraine.

The US state department offered Saakashvili a fellowship. This enabled him to study law at the Columbia University law school. He was thereafter hired by a New York-based law firm.

2. He briefly served as a justice minister in President, Eduard Shevardnadze’s government

Upon Saakashvili’s return from Georgia, President Eduard Shevardnadze appointed him as a justice minister in his government. The appointment took place in October 2000.

The following year Saakashvili resigned from this position. He stated that he thought it was immoral to be in a government that was plagued with cronyism and corruption.

3. He became president of Georgia at the Age of 37 years

Mikheil Saakashvili’s inauguration as president of Georgia in January 2004. Photo by Department of State/

Saakashvili formed an opposition party known as the National Movement. He built up a power base as the head of the Tbilisi city council. There were allegations of fraud in the November 2003 parliamentary elections.

Dissatisfaction with Shevardnadze led to daily protests led by Saakashvili. This led to the Rose Revolution storming into the Georgian parliament. In addition, Shevardnadze resigned from office. With a 96 percent vote and at the age of 37, Saakashvili was elected as president in January 2004.

4. He intended to have Georgia join NATO

Mikheil Saakashvili with Lech Kaczyński, the Polish President in 2007. Photo by Ala z/

Saakashvili’s intention was for Georgia to join NATO. The territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia had allied with Russia and Tbilisi pushed for their return. Saakashvili committed himself as a Western ally and sent Georgian troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. The troops were to be part of the NATO-led coalitions.

5. Russia almost had a full invasion of Georgia in 2008

President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili and Russia’s President Vladmir Putin. Photo by Kremlin.ru/

In August 2008, Georgia attempted a military assault on South Ossetia. This was where Russia had a peacekeeping force and they retaliated. The Russian troops quickly drove out Georgia’s troops and pushed them into Georgia.

Russia almost invaded Georgia but they withdrew and retreated to South Ossetia. Saakashvili was humiliated in the process. Georgia couldn’t regain the territories. Georgia’s ambitions to join NATO were also impaired. This is due to NATO’s condition that state members should not engage in territorial disputes.

6. Saakashvili’s government once declared a state of emergency in Georgia

Anti-Saakashvili posters in Tbilisi in 2006. Photo by Ertly/

Saakashvili had accused previous leaders of authoritarianism and his opponents also accused him of the same. In 2007, there were street protests which alleged political corruption.

To disperse the demonstrators, Saakashvili’s government used the police. A state of emergency was also declared. In 2011, there was bloodshed during protests demanding the president’s resignation.

In 2012 Saakashvili’s interior minister resigned. This was due to mass rallies in Tbilisi. The rallies were in protest of abuse in prisons.

7. He became stateless after he was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship

Protesters demanding Petro Poroshenko’s impeachment. Photo by Киев: Марш за импичмент/

While Saakashvili was in the United States, he was stripped offof his Ukrainian citizenship on 26 July 2017. His citizenship was stripped off by Petro Poroshenko, making Saakashvili stateless. President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s newly elected president reinstated Saakashvili’s citizenship on 29 May 2019.

After an eight-year absence, Saakashvili returned to Georgia on 1 October 2021. He urged his supporters to march to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital. On the day of the march, Saakashvili was arrested.

It was said that Saakashvili entered the country in the cargo of a sea cargo ship. This was against the law. After his arrest, Saakashvili announced a hunger strike. His party members joined him in the hunger strike.

8. He took part in a hunger strike while under arrest

Saakashvili’s health deteriorated while he was in prison. He was on a hunger strike and on 10 October 2021, his persona doctor requested the authorities to move him to a hospital.

He was transferred to Gori Military Hospital for treatment. The agreement to move him to the hospital was a condition if he was to end his hunger strike. By March 2020, Saakashvili was still in a Rustavi penitentiary facility.

9. Under his rule, the quality of university education in Georgia improved

2019 image of Mikheil Saakashvili. Photo by European People’s Party/

The university entrance system in Georgia was bribe-based. In 2003, a spot in one of the universities cost up to USD 50,000.

Saakashvili’s government introduced a merit-based system which replaced the bribe-based system. This helped improve the quality of university education. He was however accused of not reforming primary and secondary level education. At the end of his term, this was still low.

10. There was an assassination attempt on his life in 2005

U.S. President George W. Bush and President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia at the Freedom Square on May 10, 2005. White House photo by Eric Draper/

U.S. President George W. Bush was giving a speech on 10 May 2005 in Tbilisi’s Freedom Square when the incident occurred. As Saakashvili and Bush were sitting during the event, Vladimir Arutyunian threw a live hand grenade at them.

The grenade hit a girl and landed about 20 meters (65 feet) from the podium. The grenade did not detonate and in July that year, Arutyunian was arrested. Arutyunian killed a law enforcement agency before his arrest. He was sentenced to life for killing the agent and for the attempted assassination of Saakashvili and Bush.