Live | Have we lost Georgia already?

For over a year, Georgians have been taking to the streets every night to protest against the increasingly authoritarian tendencies of the pro-Russian Georgian Dream party-led government. Accused of steering the country away from its European path and rapidly implementing the illiberal playbook at work in Russia, Belarus and other countries in the region, the executive is secretly controlled by the country's richest man, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

With the opposition silenced, journalists imprisoned, the media and civil society subjugated, and elections rigged, it seems that nothing is missing from the Georgian Dream's autocratic repertoire. Yet Georgians continue to express their desire to escape Moscow's embrace and their attachment to Europe and its values. Where does the country stand today? Is there still hope of returning to the path of the European Union and democracy? What is the mood among Georgians? Will Mzia Amaghlobeli, a journalist who has been detained for more than nine months and a recipient of the Sakharov Prize, be released anytime soon?

These questions and more will be discussed with Irma Dimitradze, a journalist who works at Batumelebi/Netgazeti (Mzia's newspaper), and Hans Gutbrot, a researcher and expert, who will both join us from Tbilisi on Monday 22 December at 12:30 p.m. CET. This conversation will be moderated by Catherine André and Gian-Paolo Accardo and will be conducted in English.

🤝 This webinar is produced as part of the PULSE project, a European initiative aimed at promoting cross-border journalistic cooperation.