Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili presents himself as an uncompromising reformer and crusader against corruption. Fluent in English and partly educated in the US, Saakashvili became a media darling by spearheading the bloodless ouster of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, a former Soviet official, in 2003. And the reforms that Saakashvili put in place during his own tenure as Georgia’s leader also earned him high praise.
Nevertheless, Saakashvili’s critics accuse him of grandstanding and perpetuating the very crimes that he claims to fight. Now 50, he is facing several charges in multiple countries and controversies have stacked up over the course of his turbulent political career.
