My son Mikheil Saakashvili is a political prisoner. Freeing him is about more than simple justice

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Giuli Alasania is a professor of history, an advocate for democratic values in Georgia, and the mother of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili.

My son has been a political prisoner of Vladimir Putin’s system for more than four years now. He is not being held in Russia, however, but in the very country he once led: the Republic of Georgia. He has been silenced and cut off from his people by a regime aligned with Moscow.

This is not justice. It is persecution. And as his mother, I bear witness to these actions by both of my countries, as well as to his courage and his suffering.

For nearly a decade, Mikheil stood at the centre of Georgia’s transformation. As president, he led one of the most ambitious anti-corruption campaigns in the post-Soviet world. He sought to rebuild the state on foundations of accountability, and like Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, he has championed sovereignty and democracy.

My home, Georgia, will not become the next Ukraine.

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But Mikheil’s sham trial and his detention is not about justice – it’s about silencing Georgia’s most visible opposition leader. Like Alexei Navalny, Mikheil has been marked for elimination. Yet his survival itself is resistance. My son’s condition, his imprisonment, and his treatment are not just about one man: They are a measure of what kind of country Georgia will choose to become, and whether its allies still believe in its democratic promise.

This persecution is part of a wider authoritarian collapse. Under the leadership of oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Georgian Dream party has hollowed out institutions, silenced civil society, and rigged elections. But for 310 days, Georgians have filled the streets of the capital city of Tbilisi in protest – and last week, during sham local elections, their calls for freedom were met with batons, water cannons, and mass arrests. Citizens participating in peaceful demonstrations were beaten, journalists were silenced, and opposition leaders were dragged away.

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As a mother, I cannot watch this brutality crush my son and an entire country’s hopes. This is not democracy in decline; it is democracy under assault.

In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia. Today, revisionists dishonour the dead, fracture memory, and hand propaganda to the Kremlin. A country once hailed internationally as a democratic success story has fallen into the grips of the world’s autocrats; sanctions against Moscow are being ignored; strategic projects are being handed to Beijing, and in the South Caucasus, this alignment has threatened both European and transatlantic security.

Georgians cannot stand alone. The world must act.

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The European Parliament has adopted resolutions that condemn Georgia’s fraudulent elections and demand accountability. Now, the United States must do the same. Passing the Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia’s Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence (MEGOBARI) Act, a package of sanctions and democracy-deepening measures introduced by bipartisan members of Congress and passed the House of Representatives in May, would send an unmistakable message that America stands with Georgians who believe in democracy. International sanctions must extend not only to Moscow, but to those in Tbilisi who carry out the Kremlin’s agenda. And most urgently, political prisoners, including my son, must be freed. The international community must prove that it is truly a megobari – a friend – to Georgia.

This is not only about one man. It is about whether Georgia remains aligned with the free world, or slips fully into Moscow’s grip – which will have consequences for the rest of the world.

I do not write as a politician or strategist. I write as a mother who has seen her son give everything but his life for his country. His courage deserves recognition, not erasure. His freedom would not only be a matter of personal justice; it is a test of whether the West still believes in the democratic promise of Georgia.

Georgians are watching. Russia is watching. History is watching. The time for hesitation has passed. The world must choose: stand with Georgia now and free Mikheil – or watch another democracy fall.