The Daily Beat: 1 July
On July 1, Levan Tsutskiridze, Executive Director of the Eastern European Centre for Multiparty Democracy/EECMD announced the formation of a new political party, “Freedom Square.” The party manifesto pledges it to be an open, democratic platform for “protecting Georgia’s national interests and achieving Georgia’s historic goal.” It also aims to protect Georgia from falling under Russian influence, defeat the ruling Georgian Dream party through elections, establish a functioning democracy, and achieve EU membership.
Former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition party “For Georgia,” Giorgi Gakharia, claims that the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, sent a very senior law enforcement official to the United States as a personal envoy in a desperate attempt to sort out his problems with U.S. authorities. Opposition media reports almost immediately suggested that it was the head of the State Security Service, Grigol Liluashvili, who had traveled to the U.S. on Ivanishvili’s behalf. Later in the day, the State Security Service confirmed Liluashvili’s visit to the U.S., further noting that it was a pre-planned official visit to boost bilateral inter-agency cooperation.
The Tbilisi City Court fined Mariam Tsitsikashvili, a researcher at GRASS-Georgia’s Reforms Associates, 700 GEL, for verbally insulting the ruling Georgian Dream MP Viktor Japaridze at Tbilisi International Airport. On June 9,Tsitsikashvili was detained at the airport on administrative charges of petty hooliganism following a verbal confrontation with People’s Power MP Viktor Japaridze over his vote in favor of the foreign agents law.
The OSCE/ODIHR published its opinion on Georgia’s abolition of gender quotas for women MPs. The OSCE/ODIHR criticizes the Georgian Parliament’s decision for not proposing alternative measures to increase women’s political representation. It says the move is a setback for gender equality in the country and stresses that it is not in line with international standards.
Speaking at a Conversation on U.S. Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, Secretary of State Antony Blinken once again slammed the passage of the Law on Foreign Agents in Georgia. Responding to the question on the developments in Georgia, Secretary Blinken said: “We and many other countries have not only expressed our deep concerns about it, especially its passage; we’ve taken action to manifest those concerns. And I think you’re likely to see more of that.”
Nikoloz Samkharadze, Chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee and Head of the Georgian Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, questioned the credibility of the Geneva international talks, saying that over the past 16 years, it has not achieved any results. The format of the Geneva International Discussions (GID) was created after the Russo-Georgian war under the six-point ceasefire agreement and aims to address the consequences of the 2008 Russo-Georgian war, such as the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, and the return of IDPs and refugees to their homes.
