In this context, he sought to have the occupied status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia recognized by Western legislatures, became known for his criticism of European institutions in their lack of attention to the region, and was a staunch opponent to the normalization of relations with Russia.

In 2001, while still a student in Tbilisi, he was hired as an attorney by the Liberty Institute, a civil society organization affiliated with the Ilia Chavchavadze University promoting liberal values in the newly independent republic.

In 2004, he was appointed executive director of the Liberty Institute, whose influence had considerably grown within the Saakashvili administration, and assisted the new government in drafting major pieces of legislation, including a Police Code of Conduct after an uptick in police violence cases,[3] a failed alternative to a Lustration Law that had been advocated by the opposition (the latter envisioning a ban on all Soviet-era officials from holding public office) that would have required all political operatives to disclose their meetings with Russian officials,[4] as well as a theoretical monetary compensation plan for Ossetian victims of discrimination in the 1990s.

[7] His term at the time was marked by the November 2007 demonstrations that resulted in a violent police dispersal, the resignation of President Saakashvili, and his reelection in the January snap presidential polls.

[11] In the latter, he hit back against suggestions that the Georgian authorities may have been at fault for the start of the war, providing evidence for a planned Russian massive invasion in the days leading to the conflict.

He was also an opponent of a proposed Lustration Law that would have banned USSR-era Communist Party members from holding public office[15] and took part in the Constitutional Commissions that passed amendments in 2011 moving Parliament to Kutaisi[16] and reducing significantly the powers of the presidency.

[23] On December 26, 2008, Akaki Minashvili was selected as Chairman of Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, a position previously vacated by Lasha Zhvania who had been appointed as Minister of Economy.

[34] Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of Georgian Dream and a Russia-tied businessman, called him one of the "Saakashvili regime's ideologists",[35] while Minashvili accused the bloody May 2011 protests of being planned by the Kremlin.

[36] In 2012, he was appointed to a special commission set up in Parliament to study the feasibility of the planned Lazika City, a major infrastructure project of the Saakashvili administration,[37] and was in charge of implementing an autonomous local judiciary system based on common law.

In the opposition since 2012, Akaki Minashvili has long alleged that Georgian Dream's victory had been beneficial to Russia and has accused the current authorities of maintaining a pro-Russian foreign policy course.

[39] He was originally opposed to the restoration of the Georgian citizenship to Bidzina Ivanishvili, which had been removed by President Saakashvili months before the 2012 parliamentary election,[40] and later accused State Minister for Reintegration Paata Zakareishvili of seeking a "policy of appeasement" with Russia.

[51] In September 2016, the MIA would summon him after a leaked audio recording allegedly heard Saakashvili plan with him a series of protests to destabilize the government after that year's parliamentary election, leading the State Security Service of Georgia to investigate a coup plot,[52] while Minashvili refused to attend his subpoena.

[65] In the 2020 parliamentary election, Akaki Minashvili was in 31st place in the Strength is in Unity's electoral list,[66] winning him a seat that he refused to accept after allegations of massive voter fraud surfaced.

The boycott launched by 49 opposition MPs caused a political crisis that would involve the resignation of Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, the return to power of Irakli Gharibashvili, and the arrest of UNM Chairman Nika Melia.

[68] This stance led to the failure of an original agreement negotiated by EU Special Representative Christian Danielsson, pushing both President Salome Zourabichvili and Charles Michel to seek direct involvement.

[70] Ultimately, President Zourabichvili pardoned Giorgi Rurua, while the European Union paid Nika Melia's bail, but Minashvili refused to sign the 19 April 2021 Agreement, arguing that it failed to provide mechanisms for judicial reform.