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OC Media

Opinion | Georgia's neoliberal agony

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Riot police use water canon to disperse demon­stra­tors during a protest against the gov­ern­ment. Photo: Mari Nikuradze/OC Media

Mate Gabitsi­nashvili is a Georgian political economy analyst and a TV host at the Georgian Public Broad­cast­er. He reports about the crisis of the global financial economy, the origins of neolib­er­al trans­for­ma­tion and the future of devel­op­ing countries from the per­spec­tives of heterodox economics.

In Georgia, the state has given up on devel­op­ment. Neolib­er­al­ism is exhausted — there's nothing left to sell or dereg­u­late. [Read more…]

Georgian president in hot water for pardoning cop killer

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Salome Zura­bishvili signing an order of clemency on 28 August. (Official photo)

Leading members of the par­lia­men­tary majority have joined their voices to those of the victim’s family, ques­tion­ing a decision by the president they had fought hard to elect last year. Some critics also ques­tioned the opaque process in which President Zura­bishvili makes pardoning choices. [Read more…]

Human Rights Watch calls on Georgia’s government to end dangerous mining practices

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A tunnel where miners work in Chiatura. (Mari Nikuradze / OC Media)

Inter­na­tion­al rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Georgian Gov­ern­ment to improve safety con­di­tions for miners, slamming the country’s dereg­u­la­tion of labour safety. [Read more…]

Georgia’s Rustavi 2 TV transferred to previous owner after ECHR ruling

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(Mari Nikuradze /OC Media)

Ownership of pro-oppo­si­tion Georgian TV channel Rustavi 2 has been trans­ferred to busi­ness­man Kibar Khalvashi, a previous owner, after a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The court ruled that the previous owners’ right to a fair trial was not violated when Georgia’s Supreme Court ordered that ownership should be trans­ferred. [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 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…]

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