DFWatch staff 
TBILISI, November 22 – Georgia’s ruling party says it is preparing the ground for a “healthier” political landscape after the Constitutional Court reviews a request to ban three of the country’s leading opposition parties. But critics are sounding the alarm, warning that the move looks more like an effort to clear the field for Georgian … Read more
TBILISI, November 21 – With one week to go before Georgia’s opposition stages a major rally on November 28, political groups, civil society figures and imprisoned activists are laying out their expectations for the next chapter in the country’s turbulent politics. The date November 28 was chosen, because on that day last year, Prime Minister … Read more
TBILISI, November 20 – Anti-government demonstrators again gathered on Rustaveli Avenue Thursday night demanding snap parliamentary elections and the release of people detained during previous rallies. Police deployed cordons around the legislature to prevent protesters from blocking the capital’s main traffic artery, a tactic that has led to repeated confrontations in recent months. With Rustaveli … Read more
TBILISI, November 20 – Georgia’s Public Defender says overcrowding and basic conditions in the country’s largest jail remain a serious problem. In a statement on Thursday, the Public Defender’s Office said its National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) regularly visits Prison No 8 in Gldani, northern Tbilisi, and other facilities and has already carried out 114 inspection … Read more
TBILISI, November 20 – Tbilisi’s City Court has sentenced former Georgian defense minister Irakli Okruashvili to seven years in prison over a controversial 2004 police killing that shook the country during the early days of the Saakashvili administration. In the same ruling Wednesday, the court decided that ex-chief prosecutor Zurab Adeishvili, accused in the same … Read more
TBILISI, November 20 – An opposition lawmaker on Thursday challenged the government’s version of a breakdown in human rights dialogue with Brussels, claiming that the ruling party was trying to circumvent sanctions policy. Vika Pilpani, a member of parliament for the For Georgia party, claimed Tbilisi attempted to send a sanctioned official as part of … Read more
TBILISI, November 20 – Dozens of supporters of Levan Khabeishvili, the jailed chairman of the United National Movement’s political council, gathered outside Georgia’s Prosecutor General’s Office on Thursday, demanding that restrictions on his communication with family members be lifted. Khabeishvili, who is being held in pre-trial detention, currently faces limits on visitation, phone calls and … Read more
TBILISI, November 19 – Georgia’s Foreign Ministry sharply criticized Brussels on Wednesday after the European Union postponed a scheduled human rights dialogue that Tbilisi had viewed as one of the few remaining openings for direct engagement. The meeting was set to take place this Friday, November 21, in Brussels. According to the Georgian side, the … Read more
TBILISI, November 19 – Georgia is seeing unusually high air pollution levels this week, with the government reporting elevated concentrations of fine dust above several cities. The new data was released Wednesday, November 19, by the National Environment Agency and shows solid particle pollution has spiked in Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kutaisi and Batumi. The agency’s online … Read more
TBILISI, November 19 – A recent meeting among parliamentarians across Europe turned into a stage for Georgia’s domestic politics this week, as both ruling party and opposition traded blows. The spat began in Istanbul during one of the regular meetings of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE), which draws together elected representatives … Read more