Anna Dolidze

Anna Dolidze at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Dec. 7, 2012

Anna Dolidze (Georgian: ანა დოლიძე; born 26 October 1979^[1]) is a Georgian attorney, professor of international law at the University of Western Ontario ^[2] and government official. A speaker and writer on international law ^[3] and human rights in Caucasus and Central Eurasia,^[4] she was appointed as Georgia's Deputy Minister of Defense on 15 May 2015.^[5]

Career

Born in Tbilisi,^[1] Dolidze graduated from the Tbilisi State University with a degree in law in 2002. In 2004–2006 Dolidze was the President of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, the leading human rights organization in Georgia.^[6] Dolidze targeted legal reform, advocated for government transparency, accountability, and criminal justice reform.^[7] Dolidze represented in court the victims of human rights abuses, including journalist Irakli Imnaishvili, "rebel judges" (four Justices of the Supreme Court that refused to resign under pressure),^[8] Anna Dolidze was a leader of the social movement to punish murderers of Sandro Girgvliani.^[9]

She served on boards of a number of important organizations in Georgia, such as the Georgia Media Council, the Stakeholders Committee of the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Georgia, the Human Rights Monitoring Council of the Penitentiary and Detention Places, and the National Commission against Trafficking in Persons.^[10]

In 2012 Dolidze testified before the US Congress.^[11] In 2013 Dolidze received a JSD (doctorate in law) from Cornell Law School and was appointed Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Western Ontario.^[12] Dolidze was formerly married to the writer and activist Irakli Kakabadze.^[13] In February 2016, she was nominated to a vacant seat on the Supreme Court of Georgia, replacing Levan Murusidze.^[14]

Public appearances

Dolidze frequently appears on Georgian media to comment about the issues of law, justice, and human rights^[15] Dolidze has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal,^[16] the Washington Post,^[17] and in dozens of legal publications, on radio and television on issues related to Georgia and the former Soviet Union.^[18]

References

1. "საქართველოს ახალგაზრდა იურისტთა ასოციაციის წესდება" [Statutes of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association]. National Parliamentary Library of Georgia (in Georgian). 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
2. "profile page".
3. "Russia as a Non-Native Speaker of International Law".
4. "Georgia's Criminal Justice System Still in Need of Serious Reform". YouTube.
5. "Three New Deputies of Defense Minister Named". Civil Georgia. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
6. Georgian Young Lawyers' Association
7. Cornell Law School Research Fellow speaks out on Georgian conflict
8. "Judges Speak Out Against Pressure". Civil.Ge. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
9. "Sandro Gvirgvliani / http://www.lifesandro.org". YouTube. Retrieved 18 October 2011. External link in |title= (help)
10. "New Initiative to Combat Trafficking".
11. "Anna Dolidze's testimony before the Tom Lantos Commission".
12. "Faculty: Dolidze, Anna". Retrieved 14 September 2013.
13. "Cornell Law School Research Fellow Speaks Out on Georgian Conflict http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/spotlight.cfm?pageid=155373". Cornell Law School. External link in |title= (help);
14. "President names Deputy Defence Minister as his pick for Supreme Court judge". agenda.ge. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
15. "Program Subjective Opinion, TV Maestro". TV Maestro.
16. "Wall Street Journal cites IRI Poll in Georgia | International Republican Institute". IRI. 10 November 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
17. Paul J. Saunders (15 August 2008). "Georgia's Recklessness". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
18. Adomanis, Mark (1 June 2013). "Washington Post Is Wrong: Georgia's Democracy Isn't In Peril". Forbes.

External links

• Talk at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies about transitional justice
• TV debate on reforms in Georgia
• Talk at the Heinrich Böll Stiftung on the politics of memory in Georgia