A Man Behind ‘Town of Cells’
Giorgi Gachechiladze, a singer and an activist with a nickname Ucnobi (Unknown), is in a self-imposed ‘imprisonment’ in the Tbilisi-based pro-opposition Maestro TV’s studio, turned into an improvised cell packed with cameras, since late January. Gachechiladze, who has vowed to stay there unless President Saakashvili resigns, has turned into an important figure behind ongoing protests through his reality TV show. Gachechiladze, who is brother of an opposition politician and a former presidential candidate, Levan Gachechiladze, has recently proposed to turn Rustaveli Avenue outside the Parliament into “a cell town.” The opposition followed the advice and improvised cells mushroomed outside the Parliament and nearby Freedom Square on April 21. Opposition said it would further expand the ‘cell campaign’ to other venues in Tbilisi, including outside the public TV.
