SALOME ZURABISHVILI

Georgia’s governing party says it will withdraw a bill that opponents warned would stifle dissent and curtail media freedoms, ushering in Russian-style repression.

Georgians voted in municipal elections across the country that were seen as a test of strength for the ruling party and which opposition parties hope could lead to an early national election.

Several thousand people have protested in front of the Georgian parliament, demanding the ex-Soviet nation’s prime minister resign over the death of a journalist who was attacked and beaten earlier this week by anti-LGBT protesters.

A protest against a planned LGBT march in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi turned violent as demonstrators attacked and injured about 20 journalists covering the event.

“My visit coincides with an aggravating political crisis in Georgia, which deeply worries the European Union, and I am also personally deeply worried by it,” European Council President Charles Michel said. The political situation in Georgia has been tense amid allegations of voter fraud in the country’s Oct. 31 parliamentary election. Tensions escalated last week following the arrest of the United National Movement's leader, Nika Melia. Thousands of opposition supporters marched across the Georgian capital last week to demand Melia's release and call for early parliamentary elections. “The European Union calls upon all parties to intensify their efforts to stabilize the situation and find a common middle ground,” Michel said after talks with Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021 that Russia was responsible for a swathe of violations in Georgia's breakaway regions after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)TBILISI – Europe's top human rights court on Thursday found Russia responsible for a swath of violations in Georgia's breakaway regions after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war. Georgia hailed the verdict by the European Court of Human Rights as a major victory. It also held Russia responsible for preventing forcibly displaced ethnic Georgians from returning to the separatist regions after the conflict. The court ordered Moscow to conduct a probe into human rights violations during the hostilities and in their aftermath.

In this handout photo released by Georgian Dream Party Press office, Georgian businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili, who created Georgian Dream party, wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, speaks to the media after voting at a polling station during the parliamentary elections in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. Ivanishvili quickly congratulated his supporters on winning the vote after several exit polls showed his party with a strong lead. After the polls closed, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili quickly claimed victory for his ruling Georgian Dream party, but it wasn't immediately clear if it won enough votes to stay at the helm. “It needs to be emphasized that the Georgian Dream wins the elections for the third time," he said. “This is practically a great triumph of the Georgian opposition, despite the harassment, intimidation and pressure,” he said in televised remarks from Ukraine.