Shota Kincha is a staff writer at OC Media.
On the eve of the 19 May by-elections in eight municipalities and for a parliamentary seat in Tbilisi’s Mtatsminda District, the Georgian Dream party, chaired by Georgia’s informal ruler Bidzina Ivanishvili, faces a potential new rival that could potentially mobilise the party’s estranged base — the Tbilisi elite. [Read more…]
CRRC-Georgia examines the trust in political institutions in Georgia, and what that might mean for Georgian democracy. [Read more…]
Tbilisi City Court (/court.ge)
Five former senior officials have been convicted of attempting to cover up the 2004 killing of 19-year-old Buta Robakidze by police. The verdict came after over a decade of campaigning by the victim’s family and rights groups, who had claimed the case had been shelved. [Read more…]
Presidential candidates Salome Zurabishvili and Grigol Vashadze casting their ballots (Mari Nikuradze, Facebook)
Georgia’s political scene is heating up as the country braces for a presidential run-off election. After Georgian Dream–endorsed Salome Zurabishvili failed to win a majority in the first round, members of the ruling party warned of ‘violence’ or a ‘civil war’ if the opposition’s Grigol Vashadze comes out on top. [Read more…]
(london.gov.uk)
The Georgian authorities did not inform British police of tapes they had recovered indicating a 2007 plot to assassinate businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili in Britain, OC Media has learnt. [Read more…]
Badri Patarkatsishvili (RFE/RL)
The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office has charged four former security service officials for planning to murder businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili in England. Suggestions by investigators that the killing was ordered by former President Mikheil Saakashvili come as the government is embroiled in scandal over secret recordings implicating them in pressuring businesses, kidnapping, and torture.
Mikheil Saakashvili (1tv.ge)
Tbilisi City Court sentenced former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to eight years in prison in absentia on Thursday, commuted to six years due to a 2012 amnesty, for ordering the attack on businessman and opposition MP Valeri Gelashvili in 2005. Saakashvili was found guilty on two counts: exceeding his official authorities with the application of violence and arms, and organising intentional damage that afflicted grave bodily harm dangerous to one’s life, irreversibly altering one’s face. The Court also banned him from public office for two years and three months. [Read more…]
Donald Trump and former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Batumi (Administration of President)
The Georgian Co-Investment Fund, backed by former Georgian prime minister billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili will be involved in building a luxury condominium in Georgia’s port city of Batumi. The Silk Tower will replace Batumi’s previously planned Trump Tower. [Read more…]
Tbilisi City Court (Facebook)
Tbilisi City Court has found two former government officials guilty of abuse of authority, in a high-profile case involving a number of photographers. [Read more…]
Rustavi, Georgia (Marco Fieber/Flickr)
By reinforcing libertarian principles in Georgia’s constitution, the ruling party aims to keep government small — and the space for egalitarian politics even smaller.
