Georgia sends another opposition politician to prison
Authorities have clamped down on leading figures of the pro-European Union opposition after weathering major protests last year over a disputed October election and a subsequent government decision to halt talks on joining the EU.
Vashadze, a 43-year-old career politician, was found guilty of refusing to testify to a parliamentary commission investigating alleged wrongdoing under jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who led the South Caucasus country from 2004 to 2012.
On Tuesday, three other Georgian opposition figures were jailed on the same charge. Vashadze, like the others, was also barred from holding public office for two years.
Vashadze is a leader of Strategy Builder, a party that is part of a wider opposition coalition that came third in last year's election. The Georgian Dream party, which won a fourth term in power, has rejected allegations of vote-rigging.
"We are fighting for the liberation of Georgia," Vashadze was quoted as saying by the Interpress news agency ahead of the court's verdict.
"The main thing is to be united; the imprisonment of me and those people is nothing," he said, referring to the other jailed politicians.
Traditionally one of the most pro-Western countries to emerge from the Soviet Union, Georgia has taken a sharply authoritarian turn in recent years, critics say, pivoting away from the West and back towards Russia.
Separately, Georgian poet Zviad Ratiani, a prominent figure at street protests, was arrested in Tbilisi on Monday night on charges of assaulting a police officer, Interpress reported.
The demonstrations have continued nightly for over 200 days but the number of protesters has diminished considerably in recent months.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Elon Musk sets up new political group
Elon Musk said on Saturday that he had set up a new political party. The billionaire businessman, 54, claimed he had taken the step of establishing the America Party after asking his followers if he should do so in an online poll on X on Friday. It comes in the wake of Mr Musk falling out with Donald Trump, the US president. In a post on X on Saturday evening, Mr Musk said: 'By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it! 'When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste and graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. 'Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.'
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Donald Trump ‘moaned he could not access PORN in White House as computers there were blocked'
DONALD Trump grumbled about his lack of access to porn in the White House, his former communications director has said. The US President moaned he could not watch X-rated films as computers there blocked them. 2 Financier Anthony Scaramucci, who worked for Mr Trump in 2017 during his first stint in office, made the revelation while visiting the UK last month. Mr Trump — who reputedly had flings with porn star Stormy Daniels and a Playboy model — has also discussed death with Sir Keir Starmer, it is reported. During a White House lunch in February, the President quizzed the PM about younger brother Nick, who died of cancer aged 60. According to The Spectator mag, he asked: 'Your brother, Keir…he died…was it a good death?' Instead of replying in full, Starmer steered the conversation back to lowering car tariffs. Sir Keir's team said Trump was 'obsessed with death', it was claimed. The revelations came as Trump — a guest at Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion during his 2016 presidential bid — signed his 'big beautiful Bill' into law. It enacts key parts of his agenda including tax cuts and an immigration purge. US President Donald Trump said Russia just wanted to -keep killing people- and hinted at sanctions after Moscow launched its largest ever drone and missile attack on Ukraine in the three-year-old war- 2
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
I know why Rachel Reeves cried at PMQs – and it's a frightening scenario for our country
RACHEL REEVES was crying at PMQs last week. What was significant was that it was in full public view, on the floor of the House of Commons. 4 4 She seemed hot and bothered. The atmosphere in the house, particularly in the summer, can be oppressive and the chamber of the Commons is not a comfortable place, even at the best of times. To my mind, however, Reeves was under a different kind of pressure. The waterworks on display from her this week were more about the future than the past. Her plan to cut spending by reforming welfare has been sabotaged. She will have to find more money. This includes £1.5billion to pay for Labour's winter fuel U-turn. Sheer helplessness And a £4.5billion gap after Sir Keir Starmer ditched plans to cut disability benefits. Coupled with sluggish growth, we all know what is coming. In the words of Fagin's song from the musical Oliver!, she will 'have to pick a pocket or two', entirely legally of course, to make the sums add up. Kwasi speaks out after being sacked & reveals he 'fled' after being ousted The impact of high immigration, low growth and already high taxes means that we can barely afford to pay for our welfare state. Her crying, I am sure, was a sign of the frustration she feels in her job. I did the job for some short turbulent weeks and I know the feeling of helplessness that it often entails. There is the feeling of being besieged. In politics, you are never in control of events, but the sense of sheer helplessness often does occur when you are in a senior position. At times like that, you have to adopt the old English 'stiff upper lip', in my view. Senior figures have to hold things together, when things are getting sticky. Nobody was better at that than our late Queen. She never cried, never got teary or outwardly sentimental, even under the most extreme provocation. Yet, as I saw Reeves on the front bench on Wednesday, I totally understood her predicament. The left-wing backbenchers in her party despise her. They haven't even bothered to conceal their contempt. They want her out. Left-wing outrage is now being expressed by the creation of a new party. Jeremy Corbyn has said 'there is a thirst for an alternative ' and 'a grouping will come together'. Time will tell if any of Labour's left wing — the usual awkward squad — actually join Corbyn's 'grouping'. Now Zarah Sultana, another left-wing firebrand MP, is going to join. For all these types, Reeves is the scapegoat for everything they think is wrong with Labour in power. For hard-left MPs, Reeves and Keir Starmer stand for nothing. There is no love lost between them and the Labour leadership. In addition to the trouble from the Left, we read that some of Reeves's Cabinet colleagues have been briefing against her. She had warned them on Tuesday that tax rises in the autumn budget will be needed to cover the costs of the welfare U-turn. While the Institute for Fiscal Studies says she could be facing a £30billion black hole. Clearly, the welfare climbdown has made Angela Rayner more powerful. Reeves's position is obviously weaker. It is obvious that Reeves is a totally isolated figure within the Labour Party. Reeves's weak position is made worse by the fact that the prospects for the economy and taxes remain grim Kwasi Her position is similar to the school swot shunned by her peers in the playground. She provokes their antagonism and distrust. She is entirely dependent on the goodwill and patience of the PM. I know how that feels. Based on my personal experience, I think Starmer would be mad to get rid of her. Such a move would merely shorten his shelf life. His critics within Labour would feel emboldened to come after him. Yet I can tell you Prime Ministers, under extreme pressure, can do crazy things. He may well yet kick her to the kerb. Reeves's weak position is made worse by the fact that the prospects for the economy and taxes remain grim. Failing to get the welfare bill through in its original form means the £5billion savings won't materialise. Taxes, she has hinted, will have to go up. Nobody knows which taxes will go up, but increases are on the way. All this pressure, and the prospect of more challenging days ahead are clearly weighing on the mind of the Chancellor. I know what the pressure feels like. I never felt like crying but we all deal with pressure differently. I won't condemn her for her tears. 'Doom loop' It's the substance of what they are doing and the tax-and-spend policies which I object to. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight. More spending and higher taxes. When she was in Opposition, Reeves spoke about the 'doom loop' we faced as a country. Low growth accompanying high spending and even higher taxes. Rinse and Repeat. That's the doom loop. A world where Britain spirals downwards, economically, to reach a point where living standards decline. Even Reeves knows in her bones that higher taxes will kill our prospects for economic growth, for greater prosperity. It is this frightening scenario, I suspect, which caused the teary outburst from the Chancellor. 4
