Democracy & Freedom Watch

TBILISI, DFWatch – Witnesses say one of President Saakashvili's escort cars was involved in a car accident on the highway ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - While the opposition affiliated Cartu Bank was temporarily under state management recently, USD 50 million was taken ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - A fire in Georgia has burned down more than one thousand hectares of land in the eastern ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - A new report by Transparency International Georgia (TI) shows that the country's health insurance system has major ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The former footballer, now opposition campaigner Kakhi Kaladze has been deprived of the right to appeal the ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - A member of the Georgian Dream coalition's campaign team Monday started a rally in front of Bank ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian Ombudsman says the blackmailing of a journalist working for the opposition affiliated Channel 9 TV ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - A memory card belonging to a policeman in a small village has been presented by an organization ...

One of the blatant illegalities that the Georgian authorities have repeatedly committed in the last few months is that they ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian state takes over ownership of information about fossil and mineral resources in the country. Before, ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Most Georgians who live illegally abroad may not be able to vote in the upcoming elections, after ...

TBILISI, DFWatch –Georgia has lost its 17th soldier in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. The Georgian Defense Ministry informs that Givi ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - 22 Georgians have become victim of human trafficking in Turkey. Georgian media reports that Lasha Navareli, a mediator, ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Organizers of the London Olympics have stepped into a diplomatic minefield after mistakenly referring to two athletes ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A former public servant who joined an opposition party was released later Friday evening. The Interior Minister said ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - The Georgian professional footballer who ended his career to join politics has appealed the seizure of his ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Transparency International Georgia asks the country's foreign ministry not to let the diplomatic service be used for ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Human rights campaigners in Georgia are organizing a hungerstrike among prisoners in connection with the election for ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A supporter of a former government top who is now in the opposition was arrested Friday morning. For ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Construction workers rallied in Kutaisi today at the site of the new parliament building they have been ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Tbilisi City Court accuses a former football player turned opposition activist of money laundering and has seized ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - A bank director in Georgia who authorities removed from his job will get his old job back. This ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia’s National Statistics Department notes growth in the country’s foreign trade turnover in the first half of ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Media workers in Georgia Thursday delivered another appeal to the Chief Prosecutor’s office, asking to revoke the ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A bill to amend the 2012 budget to free money for cleanup work and compensation after a ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A former high-ranking member of parliament who was appointed new head of the audit service promises that ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – "Everything which is not secret, is public". This is how the Georgian finance minister answers the opposition, ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia's National Communications Commission (GNCC) is violating a recently amended law obliging it to inform the public ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Media workers and others demonstrated in front of the old parliament in Tbilisi Wednesday in support of ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – An elderly woman who tried to approach President Saakashvili to tell him about her family's problems, ended ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Saakashvili’s main competitor Bidzina Ivanisvhili yesterday gave 80 million lari to the state. This is about USD ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Amnesty International expresses concern about the recent violence against opposition supporters and journalists in Georgia. In a new ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - The head of parliament's committee on human rights will replace the head of the audit service. Davit Bakradze, ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – In Georgia, the main opposition bloc Georgian Dream accuses the government of having recklessly spent the state ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The opposition Georgian Dream coalition is ready to join a declaration asking for a competitive, fair and ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - More of Maestro's satellite equipment was seized yesterday by police on the Georgian border, the company's director ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia has started negotiations with the EU about liberalization of visa rules. Today, the EU Commission's Director General ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – An independent TV studio in Georgia had its offices robbed, and suspects political reasons. Studio Monitor, which makes ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Saakashvili's main competitor Bidzina Ivanishvili says he does not trust the government's official data about the amount ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The government in Georgia has set aside 162 million lari to deal with the losses because of ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The head of Georgia's audit service today resigned in order to help people affected by the storm ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Media in Georgia have launched a campaign in support of TV company Maestro, which had thousands of ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Luis from Ecuador has been traveling for seven years around the world. This time he stops in ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Police in Georgia has arrested one member of the opposition Georgian Dream coalition after he hit a ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia increased its import of oil by 8.5 percent in the first half of 2012 compared to ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The entire cabinet in Georgia is personally taking part in cleanup work in villages affected by hail ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - 20 media outlets in Georgia gathered today at Tbilisi Marriott Hotel to discuss the recent seizure of ...

GURJAANI, DFWatch - There are no windows left in the Salimov family house. Their bread bakery has collapsed together with ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A new report warns that the government may be using money from the state budget to affect ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Saakashvili’s main competitor, who accuses the government of abusing the legal system to intervene in his party's ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - The government in Georgia will add points prepared by non-government organizations to the declaration of acting regulations ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian government does not intend to change its position in regards of to implementing the must-carry ...

Georgia's Speaker of Parliament says the prime minister should decide whether opposition billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili may be allowed to help ...

A new portal in Georgia has been created to let people report violations during the election period. The website is called ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The inquest into the death of a 23 year old woman and a 25 year old man ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Bidzina Ivanishvili Thursday announced the names of all ten majoritarian candidates for Tbilisi and several candidates in ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia was hit by a storm Thursday that killed livestock and injured eighteen people and caused flooding ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The poverty rate in Georgia has been reduced, but child poverty is still very high. According to a ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Tbilisi City Court Wednesday fined six representatives of the main opposition movement USD 200 000 for donating ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - A working group of ambassadors in Georgia calls on the government to extend the term of the ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia’s GDP grew 1.3 percent in second quarter of 2012, compared to the first quarter and is ...

Prometheus is in the Cave! by Tedo Japaridze, former foreign minister of Georgia and political advisor to Bidzina Ivanishvili.Last year, the ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Moscow suggests that Tbilisi solves its own problems with democracy and human rights, before giving advise to ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Saakashvili’s main competitor Bidzina Ivanishvili has named 12 more majoritarian candidates to stand for election from regions ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The international law firm Skadden is going to represent the Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili in his struggle ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Another eight thousand satellite dishes belonging to Maestro TV has been seized by the police. The seizure comes ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Three Georgian Dream activists were arrested July 16 on suspicion of bribery. According to the Justice Ministry, one ...

In 2011 inflation can be regarded as one of the major challenges for the Georgian economy, writes Irina Guruli, program ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A Russian general says there won’t be another war with Georgia, thanks to military bases stationed in ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The opposition Georgian Dream party does not trust the results of a survey conducted by the National ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Batumi City Council has replaced the director of the local dolphinarium after security guards entered the facility ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Campaigners in Georgia welcome an initiative by the government to make political actors commit to not use ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Media workers in Georgia demonstrated Monday in support of a TV company. They were protesting the seizure of ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia June 29 moved a police checkpoint a few hundred meters into Russian-controlled territory in the South ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A new poll shows that the opposition Georgian Dream movement has nearly doubled its support in the ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A 23-year old woman and a 25-year old man died in a rope jumping accident in Tbilisi ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - The Georgian government calls for political parties to commit to not use or incite violence during this ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The main opposition bloc in Georgia mobilized 15 000 people Sunday in Gori, the town closest to ...

TBILISI – Authorities in Georgia have issued a 2 million dollar fine to one of opposition financier Bidzina Ivanishvili's companies, ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian government is to start providing police security during opposition campaign events. The opposition Georgian Dream was ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Do you know the deductive method? Who was Jack London? What is Watergate? These are some of ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Police in Georgia say they have arrested five suspects after violent clashes between government supporters and opposition ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – An employee of a public library who was fired in June claims the reason was her political ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Journalists with Maestro demonstrated in front of the old parliament building in Tbilisi Friday. Their demand was that ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Kahketi Information Center Friday morning reported that a 19 year old solider had died from a gunshot ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - The opposition Georgian Dream movement is campaigning to defend athletes against government harassment, but the sports minister ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – After Georgian authorities took over Cartu Bank in a criminal forfeiture process, the interim manager has fired ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Transparency International Georgia on May 22 presented the results of a study showing that three pharmaceutical companies ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A new study shows that the as the health care sector in Georgia has been privatised, the ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A street fight broke out Thursday during an opposition meeting in a Georgian village. The scuffle involved both ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Saakashvili’s main competitor Bidzina Ivanishvili has announced 15 majoritarian candidates that will stand in single mandate districts ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The State Audit Service has intervened in the activity of the TV company Maestro, demanding information about ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - German media reports that Georgians are among the suspects in a bust against shop-lifters in the city ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A chlorine leak in Tbilisi July 3 has claimed one death as 18 year old Lasha Narimanidze ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - The National Enforcement Bureau has asked Tbilisi City Court to transfer the shares of Cartu Group and ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The Government is to seize satellite receivers belonging to the small, independent TV station Maestro under a ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – There is a significant drop in support among Georgians for their country being integrated in NATO. In ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Bulgaria has sided with Georgia in a dispute over how to allow the civilian population in Georgia's ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The former Soviet republic of Georgia is to become a supplier of goods the U.S. military. Georgian Prime ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A group of French senators on a midsummer visit Tuesday toured close to a village which was ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Media in Russia and Georgia’s breakaway region South Ossetia report that the head of the investigation department ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly Monday passed a resolution about Georgia, which uses the term ‘occupation’ about Russia's military ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Heavy rain caused flooding in several parts of Georgia Tuesday. In Kutaisi, the second largest city, first floors ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The Russian military presence in Georgia's breakaway regions are increasingly being called an occupation. The first to use ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – There is still no confirmation of an alleged raid of a prison in Tbilisi Friday night. In ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia's Vice Speaker of Parliament was today elected as one of the vice presidents of OSCE's Parliamentary ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Two ministers who where switched around in a government reshuffle are taking their staff with them. Former education ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has offered to send rescue teams to Russia to help the flood victims ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Tbilisi City Court on Sunday fined seventeen opposition supporters USD 700 000 for illegal campaign donations. In local ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A Georgian Olympic judo champion says a sports hall named after him in Eastern Georgia was renamed ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Shortly after rumours of a raid inside the largest prison in the country, Georgia's Prison Ministry reports ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly July 9 is to adopt a resolution which for the first time calls ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Two of the four who were imprisoned following a street fight at one of opposition financier Bidzina ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Friday evening there was a rush of postings on Facebook and Internet forums saying that a special ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Tbilisi City Court handed out fines totalling USD 6.7 mill Friday and Saturday. A company was found ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The State Audit Service, which used to be called the Chamber of Control, has seized property and ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A 22 year old woman has died at a maternity hospital in Telavi, a town in Eastern ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The Chair of Kristali Ltd, the company responsible for a chlorine leak on Tuesday, was Friday sentenced ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The brother of Interior Minister Bacho Abkhalaia, Data Akhalaia, has been appointed to the post of deputy ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia's Holy Synod appeals to the government not to make it obligatory to have ID cards with ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Brussels is mainly concentrating on what happens with Georgian reforms and internal politics. On Abakhazia and South-Ossetia, ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A loud discussion broke out in parliament Thursday, as the human rights committee held a hearing about ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - A journalist from an online media outlet financed by Channel 9 has been stalked for a week ...

TBILISI, DFWatch –European Council President Herman Van Rompuy says the upcoming elections will be a crucial indicator of the progress ...

This headline shouldn't concern us. It has a sarcastic meaning, but should not be taken as mockery. It is only ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A court in Moscow has placed three persons into pre-trial detention until August 21, accused of killing ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Two government-critical TV stations in Georgia are to start broadcasting from the same studios. The two are Channel ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – At a time when Vano Merbaishvili was not yet confirmed as Prime Minister, a bill was brought ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The UN General Assembly July 3 passed a resolution calling for internally displaced persons and refugees from ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Parliament voted 102 against 7 today to declare trust in the new government and its action plan ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – A chlorine leak in Tbilisi yesterday evening poinsoned more than 80 people. One person is in a ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The government's action plan 'More Benefits to People' is entirely based on social issues. This is now ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Another central figure in Georgia's Interior Ministry resigns, after recent changes in the government. Shota Utiashvili, former head ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Prisoners in Georgia are getting support from democracy campaigners who protested outside one of the most infamous ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Germany's Christian Democrat party calls for democratic elections in Georgia in October. In a press release entitled Ensure ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – One of China's largest companies, Hualing Group, has bought a 90 percent share in Georgia’s Basis Bank. Xinjiang ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The government plans to spend four billion lari to develop agriculture, six billion on pensions, three billion ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia’s former defense minister has been appointed new interior minister. The former education minister will take his ...

President Mikheil Saakashvili Saturday appointed interior minister Vano Merabishvili as prime minister. DF Watch spoke to Petre Tsiskarishvili about the ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia's new prime minister Vano Merabishvili has already started making promises, as only three months are left ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - President Mikheil Saakashvili's appointment of a former interior minister as prime minister may have been in violation ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia's new prime minister Vano Merabishvili today presented his employment minister, which is a new post. “I have ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia will host UEFA Super Cup in August 2015. This will be the first time Georgia is ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – Again, a field meeting meant to defuse tension in the conflict region Abkhazia has broken down before ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian parliament on Friday approved the country’s strategy on relations with North Caucasus people. At the ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian opposition figure head Bidzina Ivanishvili continued his tour of the country's regions Sunday by staging ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – An key figure in Georgia's education reforms who was recently fired has made a comeback and launched ...

TBILISI, DFWatch - The goal of appointing Ivane Merabishvili, the powerful Interior Minister, to the post of Prime Minister is ...

TBILISI, DFWatch – In the years from 2004 to 2011, the Georgian Parliament had ten votes of confidence for the ...