Extending condolences over death of Eduard Shevardnadze, ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili said that Georgia’s second president was “a significant figure for the Soviet empire and for post-Soviet Georgia.”

He said that historians will have to work for a long to “assess more precisely the role” of Shevardnadze.

Saakashvili, who led the Rose Revolution, which forced Shevardnadze to resign in November, 2003, wrote on his Facebook page: “In 2003, when we came to power, despite insistent demands from a part of society and politicians we categorically rejected his [Shevardnadze’s] criminal prosecution, because we showed respect to the President’s institution and country’s image. Moreover, according to my decree, he maintained the state residence and other presidential privileges and I think that it was a right decision. I am still of this same opinion even after President Shevardnadze was constantly calling through press on Georgia’s new government, whom he actively supported, to persecute and arrest me and my supporters.”

Georgia’s second president and former foreign minister of the Soviet Union died on July 7 at the age of 86.