Georgian vice prime minister Thea Tsulukiani on Monday slammed the Norwegian Conservative party for awarding imprisoned former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili with the Sjur Lindebrække Prize for Democracy and Human Rights, saying it was “shameful” criminal’s receiving such a prize as “dove of peace”. 

She said “sadist” Saakashvili was the creator of the “criminal regime severely violating” human rights while in office between 2004 and 2012, which as she said had also been confirmed by the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights. 

Tsulukiani claimed it was a problem both inside and outside the country to differentiate “black and white”. 

“We do not even know what to say when a lie is taken as the truth and a criminal is rewarded as a dove of peace. This is simply shameful", she said. 

Saakashvili was awarded with the prize on Saturday in absentia, with his son receiving the award.