TBILISI, August 27 – Mamuka Mdinaradze, one of Georgian Dream’s most prominent figures, abruptly resigned as regional development minister on Thursday. Mdinaradze told a special briefing that he also was leaving politics after a decade in public life; a decision that was his own and that he had been considering it for several weeks. He … Read more
TBILISI, August 19 – Georgia’s jailed former prime minister Irakli Garibashvili claims an anti-corruption crackdown was designed to put him behind bars and destroy him politically. The confrontation began on Monday, with Garibashvili issuing a statement from prison saying he held Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili and the government fully responsible for the safety of … Read more
TBILISI, February 11 – Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili told a court on Tuesday that he expects his total prison sentence to reach 16 years as prosecutors pursue additional charges in what authorities describe as a case involving crimes against the state. “I expect another three years. I will have 16 years,” Saakashvili said during … Read more
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