Today Georgia marks the 39th birthday of the country’s national hero Giorgi Antsukhelidze, who was captured during the Russia-Georgia 2008 war, tortured and killed after refusing to comply with humiliating orders, like stepping on the country’s national flag. 

The video depicting his heroism, recorded by one of his captors, went viral in January 2009. 

In his message on the day, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said Antsukhelidze had remained an “immortal example of loyalty to the motherland, self-sacrifice and indomitability for each of us and future generations”.