Georgian NGOs call on government to immediately move toward proportional electoral system

Georgia’s major NGOs call upon the government to “fulfil the promise made to the public and move to a proportional electoral system”, which will be assumed as its readiness to ensure the country’s democratic development. It also will signal recovery of trust and repute in the eyes of Western partners and diminish the level of … Read more

Khajimba resigns, refuses to meet key Kremlin fixer

Embattled de facto president of breakaway Abkhazia Raul Khajimba had to file his resignation amid growing protests of opposition on Sunday evening. Immediately before the resignation, a group of about a hundred of opposition supporters came to his state datcha near Sokhumi to stage a rally demanding him stepping down. Meanwhile, few hours before, Khajimba … Read more

Mass unrest in Sokhumi: Khajimba flees his office, threatens to impose state of emergency

TBILISI, DFWatch–Raul Khajimba, de facto president of the Georgian breakaway region Abkhazia, threatens to impose a state of emergency after opposition activists stormed his office on Wednesday. “I am in Sukhumi at the workplace in the state building,” Khajimba was quoted by Interfax. The authorities work to “localize” the unrest and maintain the “constitutional order”, … Read more

Russian journalist asks Georgia for asylum

TBILISI, DFWatch–Russian dissident and investigative journalist Yuri Izotov has applied to Georgian authorities for asylum. According to the Ukrainian news website, ua.krynr.com, he said that fears persecution by Russia for his journalistic activities. “[Russian authorities] carried out investigative check for my posts on social networks where I revealed the data of those law enforcers who … Read more