Georgia’s main opposition party, founded by now-imprisoned former president Mkhail Saakashvili, on Thursday marked the 20th anniversary of the “Rose Revolution,” an unprecedented wave of protests launched by a pro-Western reformer, AFP reported.

Mykhailo SaakashviliPhoto: Georgian Pool / AP / Profimedia

The movement, launched in November 2003 after disputed parliamentary elections, ousted President Eduard Shevardnadze, who had dominated political life since the 1970s.

Mykhailo Saakashvili became the president of this former Soviet republic and began a policy of integration into NATO and the EU, challenging Moscow.

About 1,000 members of the United National Movement (UNM) party gathered in the capital Tbilisi on Thursday to demand the release of the former head of state, whose health is causing concern.

“The idea of ​​a united, strong, democratic, European and free Georgia was the driving force behind the Rose Revolution and its leader Saakashvili,” said one of the leaders of MNU, Tina Bokuchava, during the rally.

“The terrible injustice of Saakashvili’s detention must stop,” she added.

The former president, who ruled Georgia from 2004 to 2013 before spending eight years in exile abroad, mostly in Ukraine, was arrested after returning to the country in 2021 for what he says was a politically motivated abuse of power.

Now he is the main opposition figure.

The 55-year-old politician says he was mistreated in prison and doctors have expressed concern about his health, which appears to have deteriorated after a 50-day hunger strike last year.

“The Rose Revolution forever changed the history of Georgia and secured its place in the world,” Saakashvili wrote on Facebook.

“Our revolution laid the foundations for the dismantling of the post-Soviet Russian system and made Georgia an example to follow,” he added.

The former president carried out deep reforms and managed to reduce the corruption that was eroding the institutions.

But many critics condemned his presidency for the violation of freedoms and authoritarian tendencies, referring, in particular, to the violent dispersal of anti-government demonstrations.

The Georgian revolution was followed by other similar movements, such as the pro-Western Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004.

The Kremlin does not take very well to these initiatives, as they want to maintain their influence in the countries of the former USSR.