Levan Ramishvili

Levan Ramishvili (Georgian ლევან რამიშვილი; born March 28, 1973) is a Georgian politician (independent). He is a key figure in the Georgian democracy movement. Since 1996 he has been director of the Freedom Institute in Tbilisi, a nonprofit and nonpartisan foundation that works for a liberal civil society in Georgia.

Life

He studied sociology at the State University of Tbilisi. In the spring of 1991, he participated in the Georgian student movement for civil rights and the independence of Georgia, in the fall, he organized demonstrations against, rejected by him as a nationalist, Zviad Gamsakhurdia's government president.

He joined the staff of the Centre for Social Management at the Georgian State Council in 1992. In 1994 he became head of the sociological department of the International Centre for the federal development of Georgia.

At the same time he worked as a journalist: he was co-editor of the newspaper Mimomchilweli 1992 (Eng. The Observer ) and the magazine Business Courier, which dealt with international politics and economics. In 1995 and 1996 he published a magazine Argumenti out ( dt argument), which was also specializes in foreign policy issues. In 1996 and 1997 he worked as a political analyst for the independent television station Rustavi 2

He has beside Giga Bokeria, Givi Targamadze and Dawit Zurabishvili co-founder and director of the Freedom Institute in Tbilisi in 1996. There he also took care of the training of civil rights activists. In 2003, he practiced with Kmara! Activists techniques of nonviolent resistance. They wore later to replace the former President Eduard Shevardnadze in the Rose Revolution in.

In 2004 and 2005 he authored bills for the Georgian Freedom of Information Act, the law on free speech and freedom of expression, the Broadcasting Act and the sections on student rights and academic freedom in the laws on education and universities.

Writings

• Georgian Media in the 90s: A step to liberty. Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development, Tbilisi 1997 ( with Giga Bokeria, Givi Targamadze )