Latest news with #Saakashvili
Russia Today
7 hours ago
- Business
- Russia Today
NATO aspirant reining in pro-bloc propaganda
The Georgian government is set to fold a media center promoting Western integration into the Foreign Ministry, according to its director. The Information Center on NATO and EU, based in Tbilisi, was launched in 2005 under then-President Mikhail Saakashvili to build public support for Georgia's membership in both blocs. An employee at the Center said in a social media post on Wednesday that he had received formal notification indicating the outlet would be closed by July 1. Director Tamara Tsuleiskiri later clarified that the NGO's functions would continue under the Foreign Ministry but that the current legal structure would be dissolved. Georgian officials confirmed the restructuring to the news agency Interpress. In 2008, NATO designated Georgia and Ukraine as potential future members, despite objections from several European leaders over concerns that the move would antagonize Moscow, which perceives the US-led military bloc as expansionist and hostile. Months later, Saakashvili launched a military operation against the then-breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, during which Russian peacekeepers stationed in the area were killed. Moscow responded swiftly, leading to a military defeat for Georgia, and shortly after recognized the region's independence. The failed gamble damaged Saakashvili's popularity and paved the way for the rise of the Georgian Dream party, which has taken a more skeptical view of the West. Last August, on the anniversary of the conflict, the party's ruling council issued a statement alleging that Saakashvili's actions 'were not a result of his mental instability, but a result of instructions from the outside and a well-planned betrayal.' Georgian Dream secured a sweeping victory in parliamentary elections last October. A coalition of pro-Western parties claimed the vote was rigged and launched street protests aimed at forcing the new government to step down. The EU and the US expressed support for the opposition's tactics — actions the Georgian government described as foreign interference. Georgian officials have accused the opposition of mimicking the strategy used in Ukraine in 2014 during the Western-backed Maidan coup. They have also alleged they are facing foreign pressure for not aligning with Kiev in its conflict with Moscow. Western nations, meanwhile, have accused the current government of 'undermining democracy' by passing legislation that mandates disclosure of foreign grants by domestic political organizations. Georgia has suspended accession talks with Brussels due to the tensions, but says it still seeks eventual membership in both the EU and NATO.
Reuters
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Georgian court places opposition leader in pre-trial detention for contempt of parliament
TBILISI, May 22 (Reuters) - A Georgian court on Thursday placed Zurab Japaridze, one of the leaders of the country's largest opposition party, in pre-trial detention, as the government clamps down on dissent after major protests last year. It was not clear for how long he had been put into custody, according to Georgia's Interpress news agency. Japaridze, a prominent leader of the Coalition for Change, which came second in last year's parliamentary election, had refused to appear at a parliamentary inquiry into alleged crimes committed under jailed former President Mikheil Saakashvili, between 2004 and 2012. Japaridze had been held in contempt by parliament, and refused to pay bail in order to avoid jail. He and other opposition figures say the inquiry is an illegitimate propaganda exercise by the ruling Georgian Dream party. A baseball cap-wearing libertarian with a following among younger Georgians, Japaridze has been among the most prominent figures at street protests since last year. He has said he carried a gun until his license to do so was revoked by a court amid last year's protests. The ruling came amid a large police presence outside the court building, alongside a protest of opposition supporters. Georgian Dream's powerful founder, billionaire ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, has in recent months repeatedly pledged to ban opposition parties for what he says are their links to Saakashvili, who remains deeply divisive among Georgians. Previously one of the most pro-Western and democratic of the Soviet Union's successor states, critics of the Georgian government say the country has in recent years moved in an authoritarian and pro-Russian direction. In November, shortly after a parliamentary election the opposition said was falsified, the ruling party said it would halt European Union accession talks until 2028, abruptly freezing a long-standing and popular national goal that is written into Georgia's constitution. Georgian Dream says it still wants to eventually join the EU, but also wants balanced relations with Russia, which ruled Georgia for around 200 years until 1991. It says the October election, in which it gained a majority of seats in parliament, was free and fair. Georgia and Russia have had no formal diplomatic relations since 2008, when Tbilisi was defeated in the latest in a series of wars with two Russian-backed breakaway provinces.
Arab News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Georgia court rejects jailed ex-president Saakashvili's appeal
TBILISI: A Georgian court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili against a prison sentence that he and his backers see as political retribution by his opponents. The pro-Western reformist politician, who ruled the Caucasus country from 2004 to 2013, was arrested in 2021 after returning to Georgia from exile in Ukraine in the back of a dairy truck. Saakashvili, 57, was sentenced in multiple cases to a combined 12 years and six months earlier this year, charged with misuse of public funds and illegally crossing Georgia's border. 'The Tbilisi court of appeals upheld the verdict,' his lawyer Beka Basilaia told journalists on Tuesday. The sole appeal had been against a four-and-a-half-year sentence for the illegal border crossing. Basilaia criticized what he called an 'unprecedented' move by the court not to conduct an oral hearing as part of the appeal. Saakashvili and rights groups have denounced his prosecution as a political move by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has been accused of democratic backsliding and growing rapprochement with Moscow. Saakashvili has been held in a civilian hospital since 2022, when he staged a 50-day hunger strike in protest at his detention. The European Parliament has called for his immediate release. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of 'killing' Saakashvili 'at the hands of the Georgian authorities.' Zelensky granted Saakashvili Ukrainian citizenship and named him one of his top advisers in 2019. Georgia and Russia fought a short war in 2008 — while Saakashvili was president — for control of breakaway Georgian territories. The European Union and the United States have urged Georgia to ensure Saakashvili is provided medical treatment and that his rights are protected. The Council of Europe rights watchdog has branded him a 'political prisoner,' while Amnesty International has called his treatment 'apparent political revenge.' Georgian authorities have also jailed several former Saakashvili officials, in what rights groups have described as a political witch-hunt.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
First year of Georgia's ‘foreign agent' law shows how autocracies are replicating Russian model − and speeding up the time frame
Autocracy is on the move worldwide and becoming more resilient. One of the driving forces behind this phenomenon is something scholars call 'authoritarian learning,' a process by which autocratic leaders study each other and adapt tactics based on what appears to work, and how to proceed when they encounter resistance. Take Georgia. The ruling Georgian Dream party has steered the Caucasus nation from a path toward democracy back to autocracy – and it has done so by learning from Russia. In particular, it adopted a 'foreign agent' law in May 2024 – legislation that came straight from Vladimir Putin's playbook. Sold to the public as increasing transparency, the legislation has been utilized to persecute Georgia's opposition and arrest dissidents with impunity. As researchers examining the structure and effects of autocratic regimes, we view Georgia's first year of its foreign agent law as an example of how politicians are not only learning the tactics of Russian authoritarianism but improving on them in a shorter time frame. Georgia's current ruling party came to power after then-President Mikheil Saakashvili enacted a major series of reforms in the 2000s. Saakashvili, who was jailed in 2021 under highly contested charges, inherited a Georgia seen as a failing and corrupt state tethered to Russia. The reform-minded politicians of Saakashvili's government set the country on a pro-Western path. But after Russia's invasion of Georgia in 2008, a socially conservative coalition under the banner Georgian Dream won the parliamentary elections in 2012. Georgian Dream was buoyed by the fortune of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, a Russian citizen until 2011. The party capitalized on the public's fatigue after a decade of Saakashvili's necessary but intense reforms. The new coalition married a promise for continuing the pro-Western reforms, but with a more traditional, conservative approach to social issues. This appeal to traditional Georgian values won support in rural communities and carried the coalition to an absolute majority in Parliament in 2016. Since then, Georgian Dream has adopted pro-Russian rhetoric, accusing a 'global war party' of running the West. Increasing attacks on the European Union, in particular, have been a part of a broader strategy to bring Georgia back into Russia's orbit. The Georgian Dream progression in power has mirrored that of Putin in Russia. In 2012, Putin signed a 'foreign agents' law that originally targeted NGOs receiving foreign funding and alleged to be engaged in political activity. The Kremlin equated this law to the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, in the United States, and justified it as a means to increase transparency around foreign involvement in Russia's internal affairs. Unlike FARA, however, Russia's version of the law neither required establishing a connection between foreign funding and political activity nor provided a clear definition of political activity. This vagueness allowed for a wide range of NGOs deemed undesirable by the Kremlin to be labeled as 'foreign agents.' The result was the suppression of NGO activities through financial, administrative and legal burdens that led to their liquidation or departure from the country. Over the years, this law has reduced Russian civil society's ability to independently voice and address issues that its population faces. Georgian Dream passed a very similar foreign agent law on May 28, 2024, after overcoming a presidential veto. It forced NGOs receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register with the Ministry of Justice as 'serving the interests of a foreign power.' Activists opposing the law have been physically assaulted, and the law has been utilized against what the ruling party has described as 'LGBT propaganda.' The law fits a wider political landscape in which the ruling party has moved to restrict freedom of the press, prosecuted political opponents and postponed Georgia's European Union candidate status despite the overwhelming majority of Georgians being pro-EU. Three critical factors played a role in allowing for the foreign agent law in Russia to expand its reach: the power imbalance between the Russian government and NGOs, limited action by international authorities, and delayed media attention to the issue. At the time the law was passed, civil society inside Russia itself was split. Some foresaw the dangers of the law and engaged in collective action to oppose it, while others chose to wait and see. As it happened, the law and the accompanying repressive apparatus spread to a broader range of targets. In 2015, Putin signed a law that designated an 'undesirable' status to foreign organizations 'on national security grounds'; in 2017, an amendment expanded the targets of the law from NGOs to mass media outlets; and at the end of 2019, the law allowed the classification of individuals and unregistered public associations – that is, groups of individuals – as mass media acting as foreign agents. By July 2022, the foreign funding criterion was excluded and a status of a foreign agent could be designated to anyone whom the Russian authorities deemed to be 'under foreign influence.' Russia's experience highlights the process of early stages of authoritarian consolidation, when state power quashes independent sources of power, and political groups and citizens either rally around the government or go silent. The foreign agent law in Russia was passed only after the protests that accompanied the 2012 elections, which returned Putin to the presidency for the third term. In Georgia, the ruling government borrowed from Russia's lead – after backing down from its first attempt to pass a foreign agent law in the face of massive protests, it pushed it through before the elections. The law was then used to raid NGOs sympathetic to the opposition days before the October 2024 parliamentary election. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said before the elections that in the event of Georgian Dream's victory, it would look to outlaw the pro-Western opposition, naming them 'criminal political forces.' In the wake of President Donald Trump's suspension of USAID assistance in February 2025, Georgian Dream has seized the opportunity to expand its war on civil society, echoing Russian, Chinese and American far-right conspiracy rhetoric that foreign-funded NGOs were fomenting revolution. To combat such phantoms, Georgian Dream has passed new legislation that criminalizes assembly and protest. The foreign agent law has been a springboard for repressive activities in both Russia and Georgia, but while it took Russia a decade to effectively use the law to crush any opposition, Georgian Dream is working on an expedited timetable. Although the EU has suspended direct assistance and closed off visa-free travel for Georgian officials as a result of the law, Trump's turn toward pro-Russian policies has made it more difficult to obtain Western consensus in dislodging the Georgian government from its authoritarian drift. Georgia's experience, following the Russian playbook, illustrates how authoritarians are learning from each other, utilizing the rule of law itself against democracy. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Anastasiya Zavyalova, Rice University and Christopher A. Hartwell, ZHAW School of Management and Law Read more: Why the growing number of foreign agent laws around the world is bad for democracy Georgia is sliding towards autocracy after government moves to force through bill on 'foreign agents' Georgia: 'foreign agent law' protests show disconnect between pro-Moscow government and west-leaning population Christopher A. Hartwell has received funding from the Institute for Humane Studies and the Swiss National Science Foundation. Anastasiya Zavyalova does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Euronews
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Cyprus leaders meet for peace talks with low hopes of breakthrough
Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaders met in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday to discuss the possibility of reopening negotiations to discuss the reunification of the Mediterranean island once again. Representatives from Turkey, Greece, the United Kingdom, and the EU will also be present, however chances of a breakthrough are slim. Supporters of the summit valued the mere convening of the meeting, but acknowledged that expectations are very low. According to Turkish diplomatic sources, the meeting will discuss Cyprus' view on the issue and is not meant to be a continuation of past negotiations or the beginning of a new negotiation process. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides spoke of limited expectations before departing for Geneva, but said that during the talks the possibility of reopening negotiations should be explored. Whether the meeting will confirm the gap in the views of the two sides or pave the way for new talks remains to be seen, as the two sides show their cards at the negotiating table. Cyprus has remained divided since 1974, when Turkish forces invaded and occupied the northern part of the island. A few years later, after several failed attempts to resolve the issue, northern Cyprus declared independence. However, it is only recognised by Turkey. Western states and much of the international community consider northern Cyprus part of the Republic of Cyprus and support the island's reunification. A Georgian court sentenced former President Mikheil Saakashvili to another prison term on Monday, extending his imprisonment time to 12 and a half years. Saakashvili, who served as Georgia's president from 2004-2013, had previously been sentenced on charges of abuse of power and embezzlement that he and his defence have rejected as politically motivated. Judge Badri Kochlamazashvili sentenced the 57-year-old ex-president to an extra four years and six months on charges of illegal border crossing, adding time to his existing sentence. Speaking by videoconference, Saakashvili dismissed the verdict as an 'absolutely illegal, unjust sentencing of me for crimes I have not committed.' 'They want to annihilate me in prison,' he said. "But no matter what, I will fight till the end,' he vowed. According to his lawyer, Beka Basilaia, Monday's verdict "again showed that Saakashvili is a political prisoner." Saakashvili is also accused of repressing demonstrators who claimed that his fervour had turned into dictatorship. The former president, who led the country in a more pro-Western direction, led the so-called Rose Revolution protests in 2003 that drove his predecessor out of office and enacted a series of ambitious reforms tackling official corruption. In 2008, he oversaw a brief but intense war with Russia that ended with the humiliating loss of the remaining Georgian bases in two separatist territories. His reign was brought to an end in the 2012 election when the then newly formed Georgian Dream Party defeated Saakashvili's United National Movement party. Saakashvili left for Ukraine in 2013 and became a citizen. From 2015 to 2016, he governed the southern Odesa region. However, he was swiftly detained when he returned to Georgia in October 2021 in an attempt to strengthen opposition forces before the national municipal elections. Saakashvili's lawyer on Monday accused the ruling Georgian Dream of influencing the latest extension of the ex-Georgian leader's prison term. "As long as Georgian Dream remains in power, the judiciary is a farce and will make whatever decision it is instructed to,' Basilaia said. Since 2012, when Saakashvili was ousted from office, the Georgian Dream Party has remained in power and itself has recently been facing criticisms and popular protests on allegations of a crackdown on democratic freedoms. The party is also accused of steering the country away from the path toward European Union membership and back into Russia's sphere of influence. After going on multiple hunger strikes, Saakashvili is currently being treated at the Vivamedi facility, where he is being monitored for a number of chronic illnesses, according to the clinic.
