In commemorating today the 30th anniversary of the Act on the Restoration of the Independent Statehood of Georgia, a brief account of the importance of national/civil society  movements, of international law and the tireless efforts of Georgian patriots that led to the drafting of this basic document may be indicated and is provided herewith. 

In 1989, the Soviet government under pressure of the national movement of Georgia was compelled to agree to the establishment of a Special Commission to assess the important political and legal issues of the breach of the Treaty concluded between Georgia and Soviet Russia on 7 May 1920. The Commission tasked Doctor of Historic Science, Professor Levan Toidze and Doctor of International Law, Professor of International Law Levan Alexidze to undertake an exhaustive analysis of all the political aspects of the Russian intervention in Georgia. 

According to the conclusions reached pursuant to the analysis by Professor Levan Alexidze, the acts of Soviet Russia towards Georgia were “occupation and factual annexation”. The term used by Levan Alexidze – “factual annexation” was based on norms of International Law at that time, according to which the intervention by Russia constituted a flagrant violation of the International legal order and its main principles that had led to the military occupation of Georgia. 

Levan Alexidze emphasized the fact, that at that time Russia had not formally annulled Georgia’s statehood (Georgia’s de jurerecognition by the Western states continued after this occupation as well); however, in reality the political regime in existence in Georgia before its forced inclusion into the Soviet Union in 1922 consisted of nothing else but units of the Georgian SSR Communist Party and Socialist government incorporated into Russia’s party and governmental structures. Therefore, a factual annexation had taken place.

This conclusion acquired wide recognition by the Special Commission and members of the Supreme Council, as well as becamethe basis for a variety of scientific or political documents, including the Act on the Restoration of the Independent Statehood of Georgia of  9 April, 1991, which states as follows: “In February-March of 1921 Soviet Russia flagrantly violated the Georgia-Russia Peace Treaty concluded on May 7, 1920, and having used military force committed aggression against a state which it had recognized as such, and occupied it. This was followed by a factual annexation of Georgia.”

Drawing such a conclusion in 1989, which both politically and from the perspective of international law exposed the aggressive policy of Soviet Russia towards Georgia and the illegitimate character of incorporating it into the Soviet Union, was a truly courageous act of the entire Special Commission, and of all the members of the Supreme Council of Georgia, who ultimately supported this conclusion. 

The contribution by Professor Levan Alexidze is priceless in leading to the inclusion of several major issues contained in the legal assessment, in the Act on the Restoration of the Independent Statehood of Georgia adopted by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia on 9 April 1991. 

It should be noted in this context that in the beginning of April, the President of the Republic of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia had tasked the then Minister of Justice Joni Khetsuriani and the Member of the Supreme Council of Georgia Levan Alexidze with the drafting of an Act, based on the results of the Referendum of  31 March 1991, which would reflect the strong and uniform will of the population of Georgia regarding the indispensability of the restoration of independence for the country.

The Act on the Restoration of the Independent Statehood of Georgia includes several important international legal provisions such as the recognition of the concept of the primacy of International Law in Georgia. Accordingly, the Act pronounces the primacy of International Law over the laws of the Republic of Georgia and the direct application of its norms in the territory of Georgia as one of the main Constitutional principles of the Republic of Georgia. This principle was further developed in Articles 6 and 7 of the 1995 Constitution of Georgia.”

(Excerpts, the Editorial Note for “International Law and Georgia: from Antiquity to the Present”, 2012, Selected Papers published in 1957-2012 by Professor Alexidze, Full Member of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences; edited by Prof. Dr. Ketevan Khutsishvili)