On the 23th of February the headquarters of the Georgian opposition party were stormed by armed riot police. The goal was to imprison the opposition leader Nika Melia. This is part of a down spiraling political development that has been going on ever since the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili took power in 2012. Since then, arrests of opposition leaders, election fraud and violent crackdowns on peaceful demonstrators have been praxis.
What implications do the recent events have on Georgian democracy, and what is the future of the state in regards to peace, security and stability? These questions were discussed in SFWF:s live streamed panel discussion on Monday.
Click here to whatch the panel discussion.
Participants:
Giorgi Baramidze, former minister of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration
Giorgi Kandelaki, MP at Parliament of Georgia and Deputy Chairman of European Integration Committee
Tornike Gordadze, former Deputy Foreign Ministry and Georgia’s State Minister for Euro-Atlantic Integration
Gunnar Hökmark, chairman SFWF
Katarina Tracz, director SFWF