Ambushes, beatings, protests: Shrinking civic space in Georgia

Coverage of the foreign agents bill, the latest in a package of legislation (banning “lgbt propaganda”, weakening the electoral oversight body, making it easier to transfer offshore assets) that Georgians fear indicate a decisive turn towards Putin’s Russia in both mood and methodology. Activists, opposition politicians and professors were targeted in a spate of ambushes, beaten by masked men outside their homes. They told me they refuse to be intimidated.

I reported a story for The Economist's 1843 Magazine and a 45 minute radio doc for their weekly podcast The Weekend Intelligence which, luckily enough, is out from the paywall so you can listen here

An interview with Gia Japaridze: