Giorgi (Giga) Bokeria ( ka, გიორგი (გიგა) ბოკერია, born 20 April 1972 in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

) is a

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

n politician and was the secretary of the

National Security Council of Georgia , native_name_a = , native_name_r = , type = Advisory body , seal = , seal_size = 250 , seal_caption = Seal , seal_alt = , logo = , logo_size = , logo_caption = , logo_alt = , image = , image_size = , image_caption = , im ...

from November 2010 to November 2013. He is currently chairman of the

Movement for Liberty - European Georgia Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

Career

From 1989 to 1995, Bokeria was one of the leaders of various student movements, in particular an active member of the Press Club of Tbilisi State University. In 1992, he began working as a journalist, in the newspaper ''7 Dge'' (7 Days), as a political editor of newspaper ''Mimomkhilveli'' (''Observer'') – 1992–1993, journalist with the ''Pikis Saati'' (''Rush Hour'') program of ''Channel 1'' of State Radio −1993, journalist of

Radio Liberty Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

– 1994, political editor of newspaper ''Argumenti'' (Argument) – 1995–1996, ''Akcentebi'' (Accents) talk show host of

Rustavi 2 Rustavi 2 ( ka, რუსთავი 2, tr, "Rustavi ori") is a Georgian free-to-air television channel based in Tbilisi, that was founded in 1994 in the town of Rustavi (hence its name). It is an associate member of the European Broadcasting U ...

broadcasting company – 1996. In 1996, together with

Levan Ramishvili Levan Ramishvili (28 March 1973) is a key figure in Georgia's democracy movement, which successfully forced authoritarian Eduard Shevardnadze to resign through strategic nonviolent action. Since 1996 he is one of the founders and director of the G ...

, Bokeria co-founded the

Liberty Institute First Liberty Institute is a nonprofit Christian conservative legal organizationHenry FarrellThese are the conservative legal groups behind the Masterpiece Cakeshop case ''Washington Post'' (December 5, 2017). based in Plano, Texas. Prominent ...

, a Georgian non-profit, non-partisan, liberal public policy advocacy foundation, taking the job of coordinating human rights programs and later the position of senior legal advisor. In 2003, after a visit to Serbia to study peaceful revolution techniques, Bokeria helped bring Serb activists from the youth movement

Otpor! Otpor ( sr-Cyrl, Отпор!, en, Resistance!, stylized as Otpor!) was a political organization in Republic of Serbia (1990–2006), Serbia (then part of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, FR Yugoslavia) from 1998 until 2004. In its initial period ...

to Georgia to train students in the same techniques. As a result, the youth movement "

Kmara Kmara ( ka, კმარა; "Enough!") was a civic youth resistance movement in Georgia (country), Georgia, active in the protests prior to and during the November 2003 Rose Revolution, which toppled down the government of Eduard Shevardnadze. Con ...

" was established, which played a leading role in the November 2003

Rose Revolution The Rose Revolution or Revolution of Roses ( ka, ვარდების რევოლუცია, tr) was a nonviolent change of power that occurred in Georgia in November 2003. The event was brought about by widespread protests over the ...

. After the Revolution, Bokeria was elected to Parliament where he has authored a number laws to strengthen human rights in Georgia. Bokeria was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

from 2004 to 2008. He is the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Legal Issues and is a Member of Committee on Defense and Security. From 2005 to 2008 he was Vice-President of the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...

(PACE) and he was vice-chairman of the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; french: Alliance des Démocrates et des Libéraux pour l'Europe, ADLE) is a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Euro ...

group in the assembly and in 2008 along with United National Movement and later European Georgia - Movement for Liberty he moved to

EPP Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group) is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEPs ...

. In April 2008, he was moved to the post of deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia, and in November 2010 to Secretary of the National Security Council. He resigned on 15 November 2013 after Georgia elected its new president,

Giorgi Margvelashvili Giorgi Margvelashvili ( ka, გიორგი მარგველაშვილი; born 4 September 1969) is a Georgian academic and politician who was the fourth President of Georgia, in office from 17 November 2013 to 16 December 2018. ...

. He was succeeded by the

Georgian Dream Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia ( ka, ქართული ოცნება – დემოკრატიული საქართველო, ''Kartuli ocneba – Demok’rat’iuli Sakartvelo'') is a social democratic political ...

lawmaker

Irina Imerlishvili Irina ( Cyrillic: Ирина) is a feminine given name of Ancient Greek origin, commonly borne by followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is derived from Eirene (Ancient Greek: Εἰρήνη), an ancient Greek goddess, personification of p ...

. From 2016 to 2020 he was member of Parliament of Georgia. In 2017 after the split in the United National Movement, together with other former leaders of UNM, Bokeria co-founde
European Georgia - Movement for Liberty
party and remains the chairman of the party till the present day.

Family

Bokeria is married to Tamara Chergoleishvili, editor-in-chief of the Tbilisi-based magazine ''Tabula'' (ტაბულა). Bokeria's mother is the chess grandmaster

Nana Alexandria Nana Alexandria ( ka, ნანა გიორგის ასული ალექსანდრია, ''Nana Giorgis asuli Aleksandria''; born 13 October 1949) is a Georgian chess player. A three-time Soviet women's champion, she was the ch ...

.Recommendations and assessments from European Parliament
Georgian News TV. 24 November 2011.

References

External links

*
Biographical entry on the website of Georgia's parliamentBiographical entry on the website of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927203602/http://www.liberty.ge/eng/files/Georgian%20Media%20in%20the%2090s.pdf Giga Bokeria, Givi Targamadze, Levan Ramishvili: Georgian Media in the 90s: A step to liberty, 1997 (en) (PDF-Datei)] {{DEFAULTSORT:Bokeria, Giga 1972 births Living people Politicians from Tbilisi category:Mingrelians United National Movement (Georgia) politicians category:Members of the Parliament of Georgia Nonviolence advocates European Georgia politicians Chevening Scholars