Former President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia, was recently charged with criminal proceedings for alleged abuse of authority. This moment was expected however his friend senators among them John McCain, Jeanne Shaheen, Marco Rubio and James Risch still deny these crimes. As American who experienced the dark side of the regime of Saakashvili ashamed that our senators still continue his support writes in the edition The Hill Luis Robertson who was working as the head of informational service of TV Company "Imedi".
GHN offers extract from article published in The Hill:
"Mikhail Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, recently had criminal charges filed against him for alleged abuses of office. This moment was a long time in coming, but many of his friends in the U.S. Senate, including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and James Risch (R-Ida.) are still in denial. As an American who experienced the dark side of the Saakashvili regime first hand, I am ashamed that our senators continue to support him.
These four senators publicly criticized the Georgian government - a democratic U.S. ally whose troops serve shoulder to shoulder with our troops around the world - for investigating Saakashvili, despite calls from the State Department to let the investigation proceed.
It has taken seven years to begin bringing Saakashvili to justice. Seven years of deception and lies on his part. Seven years of U.S. leaders, including senators from both parties and Tufts University Dean General James Stavridis, cuddling up to him. But just like in Las Vegas, seven will hopefully turn out to be a lucky number. With what authority do I write about these seven years? I have lived it.
While the New York Times recent unflattering depiction of Saakashvili as a disgraced leader that U.S. officials should never have embraced touched on many of the human rights abuses for which he is now being charged, it failed to mention the charges he is now facing for ordering the raid on IMEDI TV, an independent television channel where I served as CEO from 2006-2009.
In October 2006, I went to Georgia on the behest of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to serve as CEO for IMEDI TV. It was Georgia's most watched and respected television station. In a land of state-controlled media, we took great pains to ensure IMEDI TV's independence.
Along with many colleagues, I was at the station the night of November 7, 2007 when it was overrun by Saakashvili's storm troopers who were simultaneously resorting to violence to break up peaceful protests against his government in city center Tbilisi. Their faces covered in masks so as not to be identified, the AK47 rifles they held were pointed at the stomach of an 8 ½ month pregnant employee as she crouched on the floor in the fetal position trying to protect her unborn baby.
I saw rifles pointed at the head of a young employee lying crouched on the floor, hands covering his face, hoping he would not get shot in the head. Cell phones were confiscated and employees' computers were damaged. So how and why does this happen? Who gives the order to attack a privately owned television station and hold their employees hostage?
In a country of less than five million people, only one person - President Saakashvili - had the authority and power to order such an attack.
There was no mystery about who ordered the attack. For two days after the attack, the government claimed IMEDI TV's executives were Russian spies, as this is a common line Saakashvili still trots out against his rival. When no one bought that lie, the reason given for the attack was that we were not reporting the truth about the government. That too was a lie. In reality, reporting the truth was what started our problems with the government.
The station was off the air for 30 days. More than a million dollars in damage was done to equipment and millions in lost revenue resulted from the raid on the station. And yet for seven years, no one has been held responsible for this crime.
With a new government in power that is committed to establishing the rule of law, and the former president on the run from the Georgian police, I am encouraged that what transpired that November day will be adjudicated in a manner that will bring justice for all of us who lived through that awful day and night.
Saakashvili came to power in the Rose Revolution, but after seven years, the bloom is finally off the rose. McCain, Shaheen, Rubio, and Risch were likely blinded by Saakashvili's tough talk on Putin and missed the fact that Saakashvili was a serial human rights violator, overseeing a system of prison torture, and destroying a free press.
Now that Saakashvili is being brought to justice, hopefully these senators will reconsider their support for him. Our leaders need to send a clear message that we don't tolerate such tyrannical behavior, even from so-called allies.