Giorgi Ugulawa
Giorgi (Gigi) Ugulawa ( Georgian გიორგი (გიგი) უგულავა ; born August 15, 1975 in Tbilisi ) is a Georgian politician ( National Movement - Democrats ). The humanities scholar had been Deputy Minister of Justice since January 2004 , then Deputy Minister of Security and Head of the Presidential Administration. He was Mayor of Tbilisi from July 12, 2005 to December 22, 2013.
Life
Human rights activist and opposition activist
He comes from a Mingrelian family and graduated from high school in 1992. He studied for two years at a theological seminar in Tbilisi, then until 1997 philosophy at the Saarland University . In 1998 he graduated from Tbilisi State University .
In 1997 and 1998 he worked as a journalist for Iberia TV , in 1999 for the Internews Foundation and Transparency International . In 2000 he switched to the Eurasia Foundation as a consultant . In 2002 he participated in the John Smith Fellowship Program , where he did a six-week internship in the UK on the subject of mass media regulation .
From 2001 to 2003 he was director of the World Bank project Association of Legal and Public Education (ALPED). From February 2003 he was one of the leaders of the opposition student organization Kmara! ( Enough! ), which made a decisive contribution to the success of the Rose Revolution in Georgia.
Ministerial official
At the suggestion of the incumbent President Nino Burjanadze , he became Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia in November 2003, and then Deputy Minister of Security under President Mikheil Saakashvili in February 2004 , where he made a name for himself in the spring when he replaced the Adjarian ruler Aslan Abashidze . Negotiations with the South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity about a job in office were unsuccessful. In October 2004 the President appointed him governor of the western Georgian region of Samegrelo-Semo Svaneti , where he cracked down on smuggling gangs.
In April 2005 he became head of the Georgian presidential administration and chairman of a controversial selection committee for the composition of the Central Electoral Commission of Georgia. It selected Gia Kawtaradze, a former business partner of Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli , as a candidate for the head of the electoral authority. Both were partners in a legal and financial advisory firm from 2002 to 2003.
mayor
Ugulawa is close to the people, takes the subway to work. In the first few weeks after taking office, he caused controversy through drastic measures. He reduced the number of minibus routes in the center of Tbilisi and announced that he wanted to convert the former pioneer palace into the domicile of the prestigious ballet company Nino Ananiashvilis . In January 2006 he turned off the gas tap on the Russian embassy because he held it responsible for temporarily suspending gas deliveries to Georgia.
Until 2007 Ugulava wants to repair all the downtown streets in Tbilisi. A new management system is to be used for the municipal water and gas works and the underground , and public parking spaces are to be maintained by private operators. He ordered the buses in local public transport to have a timetable based on "German accuracy" . The earthquake damage in the old town is to be repaired by a special program, and urban development is to be boosted by investment-friendly framework conditions.
Ugulawa was non-party for a long time and has only recently joined the presidential party, National Movement - Democrats . There he is one of the spokesmen for the young wing of the party, along with MP Giga Bokeria . According to an analysis by the International Crisis Group (ICG), he is one of the most influential people in the inner circle of the Georgian President.
The Tbilisi City Council (Georgian Sakrebulo ) confirmed him on October 12, 2006 with all 34 votes cast. The opposition boycotted the election. In the direct election of the mayor of Tbilisi on March 30, 2010, after a strong election campaign, he was confirmed in office with 55 percent of the votes cast. He was suspended on December 22, 2013, arrested on July 3, 2014, and sentenced to four and a half years in prison on September 18, 2015. An appeals court changed his sentence to three years and three months on January 6, 2017, and ordered his release on the same day. On February 10, 2020, he was sentenced again to three years in prison.
In addition to Georgian, Ugulawa also speaks English, German and Russian.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ugulawa, Giorgi |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | გიგი უგულავა (Georgian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Georgian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 15th August 1975 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tbilisi |