Georgia thwarts pro-EU protests

NADIM Khmaladze has been joining thousands of fellow Georgians on the streets every evening since November, when Tbilisi’s increasingly repressive government shelved EU membership talks.

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NADIM Khmaladze has been joining thousands of fellow Georgians on the streets every evening since November, when Tbilisi's increasingly repressive government shelved EU membership talks.

The 60-year-old rights activist said he was "ready to face police violence" when he first joined the anti-government rallies in Tbilisi, but he never imagined that standing on the street for a few hours could cost him more than 22 months' salary.

Three months into the protests, he received a summons: a total of $16,000 in fines for briefly blocking traffic along Tbilisi's central avenue.

"The government is using Russian-style methods to abolish freedom of assembly in Georgia," he said.