Medvedev believes Saakashvili deserves intl tribunal

"If you asked for my personal opinion (whether an international tribunal for Saakashvili is needed), I would say yes, because I think what has happened was a flagrant violation of international laws," Medvedev said in an interview to the Echo of Moscow Radio, Russia Today TV channel and Georgia's First Caucasus Channel.

"However, it would not be possible to rely on Russia's position alone in this matter, so the creation of such a tribunal is impossible," the RF president added.

In his opinion, "this means that the conflict will be ultimately judged by history or, in a shorter-term perspective, by the voters of Georgia who will have to decide which way their country should go."

Medvedev believes it is possible to bring to international trial the leaders of some states. "I look at it as a lawyer would. Let us forget about Saakashvili for a moment. If it is an international tribunal initiated by one or several states, supported by the international community, then there is no problem here. But if the tribunal in question is an example of voluntarism, if its purpose is to resolve a political problem by removing a leader, then I am against it. That is the difference."

"If an international tribunal is called to judge a leader following an international incident, then such a tribunal has the legal competence, the higher justice, if you will, to judge a head of state. But if the tribunal is only motivated by someone's whim to change the political system of a state, I would strongly object to it," Medvedev explained.