OC Media

OC Media

Opinion | Labelling Georgia’s far right ‘pro-Russian’ is reductionist and counterproductive

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‘March of Georgians’ in Tbilisi on 14 July 2017 (Luka Pertaia/OC Media)

Shota Kincha is OC Media’s staff writer.

Georgia’s liberal rights groups, neolib­er­al political parties, and their sup­port­ers in the media have con­sis­tent­ly tried to discredit neo-nation­al­ists by simply labelling them ‘pro-Russian’ — a misguided claim that only mirrors the opposite claim that rights groups follow an anti-Georgian ‘Soros agenda’. To address growing far-right author­i­tar­i­an­ism in Georgia, the under­ly­ing social and economic roots of the problem need to be addressed, as well as the legacy of author­i­tar­i­an­ism of the previous ruling class. [Read more…]

Marneuli mayor and MP charged with inhuman treatment and assault

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Mayor Temur Abazov and MP Azer Suleimanov (Facebook)

The mayor of Marneuli, in southern Georgia, and an MP have been charged with inhumane and degrading treatment and assault respec­tive­ly. Mayor Temur Abazov and MP Azer Suleimanov were charged on Wednesday after videos were posted on Facebook appearing to show a man being forced to wipe his own urine on his face and apologise for insulting ruling party officials. [Read more…]

ECHR: Georgia violated rights of former PM Merabishvili

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Vano Mer­abishvili (inter­press­news)

The Grand Chamber of the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Georgian author­i­ties violated two articles of the European Con­ven­tion on Human Rights  in their treatment of former Prime Minister Vano Mer­abishvili while in detention. However, the court stopped short of ruling that the charges against him were polit­i­cal­ly motivated, as Merabishvili’s lawyers claimed. [Read more…]

Kaladze elected Tbilisi Mayor as Georgian Dream wins landslide nationwide

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(Mari Nikuradze /OC Media)

Kakha Kaladze has been elected Mayor of Tbilisi in Georgia’s local elections. The ruling Georgian Dream party won polls through­out the country, coming first in all 64 cities and munic­i­pal­i­ties electing mayors. [Read more…]

[Opinion] Lack of care and forethought hold back Tbilisi’s development projects

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Renovated Pekini Street (/Tbilisi City Hall)

Irakli Zhvania is an architect and urban designer con­sult­ing for a number of local and inter­na­tion­al organ­i­sa­tions. He pre­vi­ous­ly taught the history and theory of city planning.

Tbilisi and its inhab­i­tants are accus­tomed to major ren­o­va­tions at election times — a ‘tradition’ for politi­cians and city admin­is­tra­tions. Such timely expres­sions of care for the city started under the United National Movement and have continued with Georgian Dream. [Read more…]

Georgia’s local elections explained

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Par­lia­ment election in 2016 (Mari Nikuradze /DF Watch)

Georgians will head to polls on Saturday to elect 59 municipal and district heads (gamgebeli) and five mayors — in Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Poti, and Rustavi. Voters will also elect 2,058 members of 64 local councils (sakre­bu­los). Those elected will serve four years in office. [Read more…]

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