Members of the Special Task Force of the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice who served in the 2008 war have been awarded with veteran status. The certificates were handed over to the veterans by Deputy Minister of Justice, Tornike Cheishvili and Director of the State Service for Veterans Affairs, Koba Kobaladze.

"A very important process has ended. Participants in the 2008 war, who were employees of the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice, did not enjoy the status of a veteran because it had no relevant legal basis. The relevant grounds emerged at the end of last year and today these people have already been awarded a document certifying the status of a veteran,” - said the Deputy Minister of Justice and thanked all veterans for their service to Georgia.

Although members of the Ministry of Justice's special task force were active in the 2008 war, they did not have the status of war veterans because there was no relevant legal provision in the Law on Veterans of War and Military Forces. At the initiative of Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze, amendments to the law were prepared in the Ministry of Justice and submitted to the Parliament. The bill was approved by the legislature at the end of last year.