
Georgia suspends participation in Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly
It came after the body voted to accept the Georgian delegation’s credentials on the condition new parliamentary elections be announced.
It came after the body voted to accept the Georgian delegation’s credentials on the condition new parliamentary elections be announced.
On Tuesday, police dispersed an opposition-organised protest outside Tbilisi State University. It was the second night protesters were blocking Ilia Chavchavadze, Melikishvili, and Varaziskhevi streets, a major crossroads. Police didn’t issue a warning about the dispersal in advance; they only gave a verbal warning to protest organisers on the site 15 minutes in advance. The dispersal started at around 7:00 in the morning. Thousands of police officers started moving to clear the intersection
Residents of the village of Shukruti who have been protesting the destruction of their village outside the Georgian parliament have agreed to end their hunger strike after 43 days, to begin negotiations with the mining company. The Chiatura Management Company, which runs the mines in and around the central Georgian town of Chiatura, agreed to begin negotiations with the protesters after the government intervened. On Sunday, Rati Ionatamashvili, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, me
After over a month on hunger strike, mostly on the steps of Georgia’s parliament, residents of the village of Shukruti are facing declining health and plummeting temperatures, with little hope of saving their village from destruction. ‘I don’t think I’ll witness my child growing up. I don’t have much energy left in me, maybe a few days? I don’t know’, says Giorgi Bitsadze, 33. Bitsadze has always been the funny one, cracking endless jokes to friends, family, and anyone he happens to meet.
It’s been a week since Azerbaijani scholar, peace activist, and OC Media contributor Bahruz Samadov was arrested and charged with ‘treason’. Since then, at least two other activists and writers, Javid Agha and Samad Shikhi, have been prevented from leaving Azerbaijan and summoned as witnesses in the trial against Samadov. It looks like destroying free media and civil society in Azerbaijan was not enough for the regime. They have decided to go after the people who were still speaking up agains
On Sunday, three protesters from the village of Shukruti sewed their lips shut in an attempt to attract attention to their protest against the damage manganese mining is causing to their homes. This latest action follows more than five months of continuous protest by local residents. Sunday morning was gloomy in the protest tent. People had been gathering since the early hours, knowing that some of the protesters had made the decision to take the extreme measure of sewing their lips shut. W