Nino Burjanadze, former speaker of the Georgian parliament and leader of the party Democratic Movement United Georgia, has said she believes that the leaders of Georgia's ruling party United National Movement, including President Mikheil Saakashvili, should face trial.

"I'm not for political revenge. Political persecution in Georgia should stop once and for all, but the Saakashvili government has committed a huge number of crimes," Burjanadze said in an interview with Interfax.

"Saakashvili and all leaders of National Movement should face a fair trial," she said.

"These people should go to prison for a long time," she said.

"The most recent example is Givi Targamaladze [former chairman of the parliamentary committee on defense and national security, who left Georgia in early October], who turns out to have planned coups in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan," she said.

Burjanadze said she believes Saakashvili and people close to him should answer for the "crusade" against the opposition which began several years ago.

"They are accusing us of all deadly sins, from coups to the receipt of illegal Russian money. According to human rights organizations, 119 political prisoners are now serving their sentences in Georgian prisons. Besides, there are many people who are in prison illegally and whose cases need to be reconsidered," Burjanadze said.

Burjanadze said she is hoping one of the first decisions made by the new parliament will be a decision to release political prisoners.

Responding to a question about the victory of the coalition Georgian Dream in the October 1 parliamentary elections in Georgia, Burjanadze said the opposition coalition has won the elections despite rampant vote-rigging by the "Saakashvili regime."

"The elections were rigged and Saakashvili did not get 40% of the votes. He just couldn't rig the election anymore because a lot of voters voted against him," she said.

Burjanadze believes that, despite the current diarchy in Georgia, in which Saakashvili still has many constitutional powers, he cannot influence political processes because he does not have the people's support.