OC Media

OC Media

Five Georgian officials convicted over Robakidze killing cover-up

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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…]

Georgian Dream MPs warn of ‘civil war’ if Vashadze elected

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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…]

Georgia ‘did not inform’ British police of Patarkatsishvili assassination tapes

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(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…]

Prosecutor’s Office hints Saakashvili ordered UK murder of tycoon Patarkatsishvili

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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.

[Read more…]

Georgia sentences Saakashvili to 6 years in prison in absentia

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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…]

Ivanishvili-backed Co-Investment Fund to take over Batumi Trump Tower

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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…]

Georgia’s new constitution keeps real change in check [Opinion]

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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.

[Read more…]

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