Anna Gvarishvili

It’s here!

🇬🇪| This week’s Georgia: Explained is out.

One year of daily protests, BBC Eye’s investigation into a banned toxic chemical used on protesters, and the arrest of Aleko Elisashvili after trying to burn the City Court chancellery: shorturl.at/ji0V5

“Georgia's authorities used a World War One-era chemical weapon to quell anti-government protesters last year, evidence gathered by the BBC suggests.”

1/3

www.bbc.com/news/article...

In a new BBC film released today, Girchi - More Freedom member Gela Khasaia says he knows he could become yet another political prisoner at any moment.

The tragic irony is that Khasaia is, in fact, a political prisoner today.

Although Elisashvili admits the charge, many now suspect a setup and believe he may have been forced into the admission. He was beaten. His coalition has distanced itself from the alleged act. 2/2

Prosecutor General’s Office has upgraded the charge against Lelo Coalition member Aleko Elisashvili from property damage to terrorism. The MIA claims that on the night of Nov 29, Elisashvili broke into the Tbilisi City Court chancellery and attempted to set the building on fire. 1/2

Honestly wild.

Elisashvili’s lawyer says his client admits the charges and explains that this was his way of protesting the injustice in the justice system and in the country.

“The only thing he regrets is that he didn’t manage to finish what he started,” the lawyer says. 4/

This is honestly unbelievable. I hope his representatives comment soon, and I’ll update the thread below as soon as they do. 3/

The MIA also claims he had a firearm and used it against a court marshal, who is now hospitalized. They say Elisashvili himself was injured after refusing to comply with police orders. 2/

Lelo Party member Aleko Elisashvili was arrested this morning. According to the MIA, last night Aleko Elisashvili used a hammer to break the window of Tbilisi City Hall’s chancellery, entered the building, poured gasoline on documents, and attempted to set them on fire. 1/

Wave of people filled the streets tonight for the one-year anniversary of daily, uninterrupted, non-stop #GeorgiaProtests. It’s day 366 and the resistance is as alive as ever. Until the end, until the victory.

The protest march is about to kick off from Tbilisi State University.

A year of uninterrupted #GeorgiaProtests!

Giorgi Shermadini, player of Georgia’s National Basketball Team, was booed after thanking PM Irakli Kobakhidze in his final speech before retirement. When we say #GeorgiaProtests are everywhere, we mean it.

“The regime must step down” - today in Tbilisi. #GeorgiaProtests in many forms.

YouTube video by david tsintsadze Coo - Fireworks Before Christmas

Full video: youtu.be/cuxDevulKUs?...

Fireworks Before Christmas - the new track & video by Georgian musician Coo (David Tsintsadze) features footage from last year’s mass #GeorgiaProtests. His first EP, against, will be dedicated to the resistance. This honestly gives me shivers.

Until victory, SAKARTVELO! 🇬🇪🇪🇺

🇬🇪 Georgia is experiencing one of the fastest declines in civic freedoms in Europe. Our new Observatory report, "Under Siege: How Georgia Is Dismantling Civil Society," shows how repressive laws, smear campaigns and intimidation are shrinking civic space.

Nika Melia, co-chair of the Ahali Party who is already in jail, was given an additional year and a half in prison for splashing water on the judge during his own hearing. There’s another ongoing criminal case against him as well.

Happening now in front of Parliament: part of the protesters are marching through the adjacent streets of Rustaveli Avenue. Dozens have been arrested. There is a heavy police presence. Day 357 of non stop #GeorgiaProtests.

Video by MoSe

More and more police are being deployed on Rustaveli Avenue and the adjacent streets as protesters were massively arrested at today’s #GeorgiaProtests. It is day 357 of non stop protest.

Mass arrests are taking place tonight in Tbilisi. #GeorgiaProtests

Amid the non-stop #GeorgiaProtests on Rustaveli Avenue, GD has announced that renovation of the street will begin next year.

Ex-Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for abuse of official authority in a case dating back to 2004. Okruashvili is already in jail for refusing to participate in the so-called parliamentary investigative commission.

Day 356 of non-stop #GeorgiaProtests! 🇬🇪🇪🇺🇺🇸

NEW: Over the past week, Georgian Dream regime launched new criminal cases against opposition leaders, opened investigations against ex-PM Giorgi Gakharia, moved to strip the diaspora of voting rights, and kept chasing protesters through Tbilisi’s streets: shorturl.at/TK9H4

Zaza Shatirishvili, Bidzina Ivanishvili’s spokesperson and his caricature-like version of Alexander Dugin, says JD Vance is a representative of the Deep State and claims this “Deep State” is responsible for the crisis in the EU.

Georgian Dream is banning the purchase of the only non-lethal self-defense tool available, pepper spray. As a woman, pepper spray was the only thing that gave me a sense of security while walking at night.

GD is abolishing both the Personal Data Protection Service and the Anti-Corruption Bureau. The latter, which was originally meant to oversee corruption risks within state institutions, had recently been turned into the main enforcement body of the Russian-style “agents law.”