Replacing Zurab Adeishvili with Eka Tkeshelashvili as head of the General Prosecutor’s Office was done, according to President Saakashvili, to “humanize” the office. 

He said the change amounted to “a fundamental reshuffle of ‘power structures’,” – a term generally used in reference to the ministries of Defense and Interior, and sometimes to the General Prosecutor’s Office. Both Interior and Defense Ministers Vano Merabishvili and Davit Kezerashvili retained their cabinet portfolios. 

“This [change] is not simply a staff reshuffle. It shows the need to revise many approaches, and while preserving good tendencies, the need to humanize this field. We need closer contact with the public,” Saakashvili told Georgian journalists in Strasbourg late on January 24.

“I want to especially stress that the crime rate has decreased in Georgia almost three fold over the past two years,” he continued. “The fact that we can let our children out in the street… the fact that we have uncovered a very dangerous attempted conspiracy, all these are the results of the serious activities of these people [from the law enforcement agencies].”

Saakashvili also thanked former ministers who failed to retain their posts, saying they had not been “dismissed.”

“I want to thank everybody, who worked in the previous government. I want to thank the economic team – Giorgi Arveladze [ex-Economy Minister], who has really done much. I want to thank Kakha Bendukidze [ex-State Minister for Coordination of Reforms], who has implemented many difficult and unpopular reforms in a very difficult period. I want to thank [ex]-Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili, who has done much for Georgia and I am sure, he will still do much in the future,” Saakashvili said.

PM-nominee Lado Gurgenidze said that Arveladze was going into business and Bezhuashvili planned “to go into the private sector.” Bendukidze will now become the head of the government’s administration, replacing Petre Mamradze, a long-time holder of this position.