TBILISI, November 25 – Georgia’s former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has won another round in his long-running legal fight with a Credit Suisse subsidiary, as a UK court ordered the bank to compensate him for losses linked to a major fraud case. But although the United Kingdom’s Judicial Committee of the Privy Council upheld earlier … Read more
TBILISI, October 1 – Bidzina Ivanishvili, honorary chairman of Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party, marked the anniversary of the party’s 2012 election victory with a lengthy statement on October 1, describing it as a defining moment in the country’s modern history. Ivanishvili said October 1, 2012, when Georgian Dream defeated then-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National … Read more
TBILISI, September 22 – The president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, paid an official visit to Georgia over the weekend, and was hosted at the private residence of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party. The event marked Ivanishvili’s first public appearance in a political … Read more
TBILISI, September 15 – The lawyer of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder and honorary chairman of Georgia’s ruling party, has accused foreign journalists of trying to discredit his client while covering an ongoing case involving alleged misappropriation of Ivanishvili’s bitcoin holdings. In a statement released this week, lawyer Temo Tsikvadze said he had been contacted … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch-–Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder and honorary chairman of Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party, has declined a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Robin Dunnigan, explaining that he would not be free to represent the country’s interests while under sanctions. Dunnigan had sought to deliver a message from the Trump administration regarding the reset in U.S.-Georgia relations, following … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s ruling party on Saturday elected former party secretary Irakli Kobakhidze as new chairman, after its billionaire founder stepped down. The choice of a new leader and new composition of the political council at the party convention are important developments for the party that came to power in 2012 and secured election in 2016 … Read more
The political confrontation in Georgia hit another low point on Monday after the Supreme Court sentenced Giorgi “Gigi” Ugulava, key opposition politician, to 3 years in jail for diverting public funds during his tenure as Tbilisi Mayor in 2005-2013. Opposition claims it’s a political persecution and the government led by Georgian Dream is steadily drifting … Read more
“I am a little surprised to be talking about this in the context of Georgia, because such a campaign against American NGOs is being run out of the Kremlin […] When we hear foreign politicians, foreign governments, attacking American NGO’s it is usually in cases like Russia and China, where there is no political freedom, … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–The confrontation between the Georgian Dream (GD) government and the opposition appears to have reached a point of no return, as the former on Monday flatly ruled out any chance of changing the electoral system. Kakha Kaladze, the Tbilisi mayor who has been front man for the GD the last few days, said at … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–37 people were detained in Tbilisi on Monday after riot police dispersed a group of opposition activists blocking the parliament to protest its failure to amend the electoral law. Four people, including two police officers, have sustained injuries, the police said. The police and protesters clashed at the entrance of parliament after the latter … Read more