Thea Tsulukiani

Thea Tsulukiani (Georgian: თეა წულუკიანი; born 21 January 1975) is a Georgian politician who is currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia. She previously served as Minister of Justice from October 2012 to October 2020. Prior to her ministerial roles, she ran as a candidate for the Free Democrats (Georgia), and was elected as Member of Parliament for Nazaladevi, a single- mandate constituency of the capital, with 72% of the vote. She resigned on 29 September 2020, effective 1 October. Since December, 2020 she is a member of Parliament of Georgia.

Tsulukiani has 10 years of experience as a lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (ECHR) where at the same time she served as a member of the Committee for Rules of Court and as a rapporteur on the cases examined by single-judge compositions.

Tsulukiani holds MPA degree from École Nationale d'Administration (ENA) in France (Averroès 1998-2000). She also holds the degree in international law and international relations and a diploma from the Academy of Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.

From 2012 until 2020, Tsulukiani served as the Minister of Justice. She was the chairperson of 8 Inter-agency Councils in the Government of Georgia, among them the Criminal Justice Reform Council, the Anti-corruption Council, the Anti-drug, Anti-torture and Anti-trafficking Councils as well as the State Commission on Migration Issues and the Inter-agency Commission for Free and Fair Elections. Under her tenure, the court system in Georgia underwent several waves of reform. Her critics have argued that Tsulukiani during this time empowered a clan of judges, to ensure that courts return politically favourable decisions.

In March 2021, Tsulukiani was appointed Minister of Culture and Deputy PM. During her tenure, there have been widespread criticisms that Tsulukiani has removed experienced cultural managers, and instead appointed political loyalists, across the film, literature, music and museum sectors.