“August 8 was long considered the beginning of the Russia-Georgia war. However, in recent years, there have been revisions to this date by various parties in Georgia and elsewhere,” wrote Mamuka Mdinaradze, the leader of the parliamentary majority and executive secretary of Georgian Dream, on social media.

According to Mdinaradze, the date of August 7 first appeared in a resolution supported by the United National Movement.

“In the documents from August 9-10, 2008 (referring to the decisions of both the president and the parliament), August 8 was named as the day of the entry of Russian troops into Georgia. Two months later, a resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recorded that ‘the initiation of shelling of Tskhinvali without warning by the Georgian military, on 7 August 2008, marked a new level of escalation, namely that of open and fully fledged warfare. The use of heavy weapons and cluster munitions, creating grave risks for civilians, constituted a disproportionate use of armed force by Georgia.’

In the same resolution, Russia’s actions were referred to as a counter-attack. It also stated that ‘the use of indiscriminate force and weapons by both Georgian and Russian troops in civilian areas can be considered as war crimes that need to be fully investigated.’

Incredibly, this resolution was supported by the Georgian delegation at that time. Accordingly, for the first time, the date of August 7 appeared in a resolution supported by the United National Movement, effectively creating evidence against themselves and marking an act of treason, selling out the country, and putting Georgian military personnel at great risk of being tried for war crimes.

Nevertheless, we won both cases in the Strasbourg and Hague courts and proved that Georgian soldiers were not war criminals but heroes of their homeland. It is essential to acknowledge this.

The United National Movement should be tried for numerous crimes committed against their homeland, among them the crime to which this status is dedicated holds a special place,” Mdinaradze stated.