The President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili awarded famous Georgian movie-director Eldar Shengelaia with the highest civil order - the Order of St. George. The members of the majority and the Minister of Culture Nick Rurua attended the ceremony at the President's Chancellery.

"There were people who fell dead on April 9, those who were tortured and young heroes, we pay great honor to them. I and my friends, among them Eldar Shengelaia were initiators of erecting the monument in their honor after many years since April 9 event. When I was the Chairman of the City Council we thought of erecting this monument in former Aleksandrov Park. After the Rose Revolution this monument was erected in front of the Parliament building. But April 9 has a lot of heroes whose heroism was not visible. On this day there was a dividing line between talented and untalented people, between conformism, patriotism and heroism. There were policemen whose names weren't known, these heroes were officials, I cannot help mentioning Irakli Menagarishvili's activities, some famous and unknown officials of the apparatus, also the activities of famous Georgian public persons, I do not want to omit someone - those who were our pride - movie-directors, scholars..." stated the President of Georgia.

As Mikheil Saakashvili said he kept in memory the actions of those Georgian intellectuals when Eduard Shevardnadze arrived in Tbilisi. It was the time when Lana Gogoberidze called him "a white fox" and this nickname is still in usage.

Mikheil Saakashvili stated that Eldar Shengelaia is the hero of our time and epoch, he put a tremendous share in the investigation of the events of April 9, 1989 and in spreading the truth all over the world. As he said nobody told Eldar Shengelaia to participate in the work of the investigation commission, but he expressed his firmness in the fight against injustice. "We have to take special care of such people who are known for their deeds before their people. Such people are our gold resource. These people are our pride, we have to take more care of them. We have to see and appreciate their deeds, and we must bring these people into play in building Georgia's future", stated the President of Georgia.

Press Office
of the President of Georgia