Rehan Dimitri
Appearances
Global News Podcast
EU retaliates as Trump tariffs expand globally
Georgia's prosecutor's office published a detailed list of what it described as personal comfort and luxury items of Mikhail Saakashvili. Prosecutors argued that while serving as president, Mikhail Saakashvili spent over US$3 million of public money purchasing expensive gifts, clothing, cosmetic procedures and other luxuries.
Global News Podcast
EU retaliates as Trump tariffs expand globally
A judge found the ex-president guilty and sentenced him to nine years in prison. That is in addition to the six years he is already serving for abuses of power. Mikhail Saakashvili's defense argued that the expenses were for official presidential functions.
Global News Podcast
EU retaliates as Trump tariffs expand globally
Saakashvili has long maintained that his imprisonment is politically motivated, driven by revenge from the current de facto ruler of the country, billionaire Bedzina Ivanishvili. During Saakashvili's 10 years president, Georgia became an economic success story in the region, but it also fought a war with Russia in 2008.
Global News Podcast
EU retaliates as Trump tariffs expand globally
After leaving presidential office in 2013, Mikhail Saakashvili spent eight years in exile before smuggling himself back into Georgia in October 2021. He was promptly arrested and has remained incarcerated since then.
Global News Podcast
China vows to fight US 'blackmail' over tariffs
Students from all over the world study at United World Colleges Dilijan, an international school nestled in the mountains of northern Armenia. It was built through the vision and funding of an Armenian billionaire, Ruben Vardanyan. But his wealth is of little use now that he's facing a lifetime in jail in neighboring Azerbaijan.
Global News Podcast
China vows to fight US 'blackmail' over tariffs
Silvia Khovnanyan, a former student, speaks with emotion about the man who sponsored her education.
Global News Podcast
China vows to fight US 'blackmail' over tariffs
Vardanyan was arrested by Azerbaijani authorities, along with over a dozen former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, following the military takeover of the disputed region by Azerbaijan in September 2023. They're now standing trial in Baku's military court, accused of war crimes. David is Ruben Vardanyan's eldest son.
Global News Podcast
China vows to fight US 'blackmail' over tariffs
Azerbaijan insists that the rights of ethnic Armenian prisoners have been respected and that it has a responsibility to hold to account those suspected of having committed war crimes. Vardanyan's family says he's being accused of 42 criminal charges dating back decades when he was a student and living mainly in Russia.
Global News Podcast
China vows to fight US 'blackmail' over tariffs
Everything changed for Ruben Vardanyan in September 2022 when he decided to move to Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, a mountainous region that was historically populated by ethnic Armenians, but was part of Soviet Azerbaijan. Outside Yerevan's Opera House, protesters gathered to oppose the peace deal that Armenia and Azerbaijan are finalising.
Global News Podcast
China vows to fight US 'blackmail' over tariffs
Many here are angry that the release of prisoners isn't included in the agreement.
Global News Podcast
China vows to fight US 'blackmail' over tariffs
But in Armenia's parliament, ruling party MP Arsen Torosian defends the government's approach.
Global News Podcast
China vows to fight US 'blackmail' over tariffs
In his voice message from prison recorded during a recent telephone call with the family, Ruben Vardanyan warned that this is a mistake.
Global News Podcast
China vows to fight US 'blackmail' over tariffs
In Azerbaijan, only one state TV channel has been allowed to film the court proceedings. The Azeri media dubbed the hearings as Nuremberg trials, which they say will bring historic justice. But for many Armenians, there is little hope for justice in what they consider simply as show trials.
Global News Podcast
Trump aide tells Ukraine to ''tone down'' US criticism
The BBC's Azeri Service and Turan News Agency were the last two independent news sources in the oil-rich country of 10 million people. The BBC Azeri website had up to one million readers per week, providing impartial news in a country where information is tightly controlled.
Global News Podcast
Trump aide tells Ukraine to ''tone down'' US criticism
More than 20 independent Azerbaijani journalists have been jailed since the government intensified its crackdown on independent media in 2023. journalists are often accused of currency smuggling, a charge that human rights groups have described as dubious.
Global News Podcast
Trump aide tells Ukraine to ''tone down'' US criticism
Last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists, which promotes press freedom around the globe, named Azerbaijan among the world's top 10 countries for jailing journalists.
Global News Podcast
Trump says he expects to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia
Thousands of teachers across Georgia transferred around 50 cents each to the account of one of their colleagues, Lado Abkhazava, to help him pay a fine for protesting.
Global News Podcast
Trump says he expects to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia
On Monday, Mr Abkhazava, along with several activists, including internationally renowned Georgian jazz singer Nino Katamadze, were ordered by a judge to pay the equivalent of US$1,800 each for picketing outside the house of an official.
Global News Podcast
Trump says he expects to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia
Mr Abkhazava told the judge that he was a single parent with four foster children and couldn't afford to pay the fine, which is the equivalent to four-month pay for a teacher. Rehan Dimitri.
Global News Podcast
UN Secretary-General warns US against 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza
No justice, no peace. Police is everywhere. Justice nowhere. A group of protesters are shouting outside the constitutional court in the black sea town of Batumi, western Georgia. Here, just as in the capital Tbilisi, anti-government protests have been going on for over two months, demanding fresh elections. Now they want freedom for a local journalist. Freedom to Mzia, they chant.
Global News Podcast
UN Secretary-General warns US against 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza
Mzia Moghlebeli, whose large photo is printed on a banner at the rally, is the founder of the leading independent online media here, Batu Melebi. She is currently in pre-trial detention, accused of assaulting a police officer. In protest, she has gone on hunger strike. I've come to the offices of Batu Melebi where I'm meeting one of his journalists, Irma Dimitradze.
Global News Podcast
UN Secretary-General warns US against 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza
Irma tells me how the newspaper was founded in 2001 by Mzia Amaglabeli and her friend Eter Turadze, both in their 20s at the time. Later, they launched a nationwide online platform called NetGazeti. Today, these two publications are among the most trusted and reliable news sources in Georgia's highly polarized mediascape. Irma explains what happened on the day of Mzia's arrest.
Global News Podcast
UN Secretary-General warns US against 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza
On January the 11th, several people were detained in Batumi for putting up posters calling for a general strike. Among the detained was a friend of Mzia's, so she went to the police station to find her. In footage from that time, Mzia is seen sticking a poster to a police building and immediately police detain her.
Global News Podcast
UN Secretary-General warns US against 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza
Later, after being released, something happens between her and the chief of the Batumi police. She grabs him by his sleeve and appears to lightly touch his face. This time she is detained and charged with assaulting a police officer. It's punishable by up to seven years in prison. Her lawyers allege while in detention, the police chief spat in her face, denied her access to water and a toilet.
Global News Podcast
UN Secretary-General warns US against 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza
Several days later, the Batumi City Court remands Amoghlebele in pretrial custody. The case has become national news. The country's prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, personally got involved describing Amoghlebele's action as a crime against the state.
Global News Podcast
UN Secretary-General warns US against 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza
In Batu Melebi's office, Irma reads out the letter which Mzia sent from prison, announcing her hunger strike.
Global News Podcast
UN Secretary-General warns US against 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza
Protesters in Batumi sing Georgia's national anthem, which glorifies freedom. Mziya Mokhlebeli's hunger strike is a reminder to many here how fragile their democracy has become.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
It's freezing cold, but despite this weather, there are lots of people. Like every night, we've seen night after night people turning up in their thousands. The pro-EU Georgians who are protesting, they feel that it's the only thing they can do. They do feel powerless. I've been talking to some of the protesters. They're asking for help from outside Georgia.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
They're asking for the EU or the United States to impose sanctions on their government to show some kind of support. But at the same time, they're determined to continue protesting. They believe that what's happening right now in Georgia goes against their wishes, against the will of the Georgian people, as they say.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
Earlier today in Parliament, Mikhail Kavalashvili, he was elected by an electoral college, which consists mainly of the loyalists of the Georgian dream, the ruling party. I was inside the parliament. I spent several hours there. And to be honest, my feeling was that there are now two Georgias and two different realities.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
One is inside parliament, where everything is quiet, where you can't really hear what's happening outside. And I was talking to some pro-government MPs. They do not consider that there's any political crisis in the country. They're disregarding the protests that have been going on for weeks now in Georgia. saying that it's all just artificially created and somehow influenced from outside Georgia.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
And then there's another reality, which is outside the parliament, in those freezing temperatures, people turning up, they are booing, they are doing whatever they can to express their discontent.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
It is unlikely, Alex. He did not make any formal statements today. He was just there to receive the congratulations from the ruling party and from his own party, which is called People's Power. But those who are protesting, they're saying that he does not represent the Georgian people. His party, People's Power Party, was the one that proposed the
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
a very controversial law called the foreign agents law. He's one of the architects of that law. He's been a very outspoken critic of the Western policies in Georgia. He's an illiberal politician. And those who are protesting outside Parliament, they do not see that he is the representative of those values that they're trying to defend.