Tea Tsulukiani, Vice Speaker of the Parliament/Chairperson of the Temporary Investigative Commission examining alleged crimes committed by the former United National Movement government, highlighted the "self-sacrifice" of the Georgian army during the 2008 war with Russia.

"We have no plans for politicians to execute military strategies. God forbid we ever need to. These plans should exist where military professionals work - that is the purpose of defence institutions. However, under our Government, as a political will to implement this plan, we do not have and will not have it.

This is precisely the approach that we do not want the army to become a victim in the hands of politicians.

The decision of August 7 was a political one. It seems that, at least since 2007, this decision had been in the making, and the army and officers were sent into a pre-lost war under a flawed military strategy and operations - into a war that made little sense, not least because it did not follow a proper military plan, and, as it turns out, Vano Merabishvili [former Minister of Internal Affairs] was the one leading the war efforts.

This plan probably exists, and the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff are there so that a plan exists, although I hope this plan also includes an evacuation plan, and we will ask the next guests whether they had a plan for the evacuation of citizens, but it is the duty of politicians not to recklessly involve the military in processes that will lead to great losses.

Our Government had gathered evidence to defend both the dignity of Georgian soldiers and the state in the International Criminal Court.

We discussed at length yesterday how civilians were abandoned. Now we learn that as early as November 2007 and February 2008, it was already known that something might happen, yet civilians were still left there, left to face Russia alone", - said Tea Tsulukiani.

She made these remarks while questioning Lasha Koiava, former head of the Medical Department of the Ground Forces.