i've heard him of putin's published an article outlining his plans to battle corruption to strengthen civic society to tackle poverty it's part of his campaign to pretend its president would be election less than two months away. from kevin allen thanks for being with us i'll update you on the newsroom for the top of the hour and half an hour's time up next though our special report about how the political shift in georgia in two thousand and four changed the country's cultural like the. the. us. you are fools. moscow the fashionable new etc renowned georgian artistic director robert stuart or his presiding over a rehearsal of shakespeare's the tempest not so long ago he was forced to resign from his post as a director of

a leading state theatre in tbilisi. the british invited me to london to see a future the plan was that i will stage a play there hundred twenty twelve. today stuart a has to stage his productions abroad the international association of theatre critics is up in arms over his exile. it was. then dismissed along with this throughout was the kind of political demonstration the next day after he was forced to resign thousands of people joined a rally in central tbilisi in front of the theater the company released a statement saying they can be no other artistic director of them steward of the theater. in one of his earlier comments president suck us really said the intelligentsia should be flushed you know just like when you flush the toilet. the leaders of many state sponsored theaters were dismissed under mikheil

saakashvili nearly the entire faculty of the conservatoire and the academy of arts were replaced senior professors in almost every university were forced to retire. the town of gori capital of the georgian province of sheet a copy. of gori intellectuals have been discussing second latest decision. which is philly a young and ambitious journalist is filming another story about robots who are george's independent media has been focused on his expansion.

the trial of the t.v. company was founded in one thousand nine hundred nine. john doe not yet just really started the venture with only a video recorder and a transmitter borrowed from a friend. he had barely any money and even less experience. john doe did everything with his own two hands share enthusiasm kept driving him forward. ten years later everybody in georgia had heard of the small t.v. company. we began experiencing very serious problems off of the saakashvili government came to power in two thousand and three. in the following year defense minister really tried to talk us into selling the company to him but we turned the request down that was when the problems began piling up the interviews were now off limits to our journalists they were often beason up and humiliated in public. in the summer of two thousand and ten the government decided to remove

a monument to stalin from the town's central square journalists wanted to cover the story when both supporters and opponents of the demolition gathered on the square. that reporters wanted to present was an objective story by filming both sides but they stood no chance. of plainclothes policemen came up to us and told us not to film anything there they prevented us from performing our professional activities they attacked me and my camera we were detained and our camera was confiscated. after the square was cleared of demonstrators opposing the demolition the camera was handed back to the journalists and released from the police station . we were able to film this part but when they gave the camera back to us something was missing they had to litter the footage of the rally against the

monuments demolition. the only part left was of these pro-government activists applauding that it was so that it was never jondo motive to make trial an opposition media but for several years now government officials have steered clear of his talk show. we make no distinction between the two sides we invited both of them to go on about the fact is that the opposition comes here and the government keeps away that's why the government claims that we are an opposition channel but that's not true local officials turn down or imitation because they've been told by higher ups not to give interviews to our journalists or appear on our programs. journalists from this regional t.v. company even from the building housing the local administration they are denied interviews and accreditation to important events. despite all the problems the

t.v. company is still in operation with news bulletins going out daily the arrival of any political scene has thrown georgia's authorities into total confusion. billionaire vanish villi has invested a great deal of money in the georgian economy but soon after he announced his intention to stand in the next presidential election the country's government stripped him of his citizenship the following is an excerpt from a vanished released first formal press conference held on november the first twenty eleven. beauty really dull the need for the people to regain a lost sense of justice is of crucial importance now even sack inner circle is stricken with terror there is no trace of self-government everything is in the hands of one man's music. incidentally there was actually a time when those young people who are now in the government were in the pay of

ivanishvili off what they must essentially he funded the state machinery he has built theatres among many other things. seventy year old artist. has been great expectations on a vanished billie he also has a serious bone to pick with the present day or forties tamera's was unceremoniously fired from the academy of fine arts after a professional period lasting many years. i spoke out against the regime in public i gave interviews i didn't keep silent. in the chancellor and this is what he said to me afterwards but you don't let us live what this is because i was there. may have decided that giving me the sack was the easiest way of resolving the problem. tamer has lost his job but not his workshop

so he began to devote more time to painting however there's hardly a place in today's georgia where he can show his paintings to the public georgia is not a wealthy country and there just isn't enough money to support artists museums can barely make ends meet. your campaign seek to create the impression that all is well in the country. do you know what kind of a nation is in the making. handful of people are well off of well everyone else lives to ensure that has a cushy existence. three. his wife marina is an actress she's employed at the shelter. where robert stewart was artistic director for decades. this is one of the

latest newspapers roberts turo writes in an article that the dina ivanishvili will emerge victorious. oppositionists he writes that unless saakashvili leaves his post of his own free will he will face the same fate as colonel gaddafi and i write sad really took his stance in the right place at the right time. when george's ministry of culture fired robert store a marina and her fellow actors at the theater took to the streets about five thousand people turned out to express support for their favorite director. all the traffic in the avenue in front of the playhouse was brought to a halt. we met face to face with the spectators who had adored roberts to rap all this time the actors were wearing such t. shirts as the fs i think these words mean i'm fired i like the expression on his

face he seems to be saying i'm fired so what after all his work lives on. the ministry of culture as official excuse for his sacking xenophobia. had asked why he made a secret of his armenian. it's going to be the man who keeps his father's nationality a secret. so the big question is who is more xena fabius. the president supposed to hide anything. someone asking him why do you make a secret of it. during

a theatre festival in georgia in september twentieth level members of the international association of theater critics interviewed robert stewart for an hour asking him about all the details their conclusion about his misfortune was made in an open letter and supporter robert stewart of. f. numbers of the theater and the portress of freedom of expression we have been. by him overlap with us throughout from his post by the georgian government like so many people around them but we feared that the government had used certain statements at did to us that there was a pretext to put punish a critical voice from within their teeth the community. the protests the letters by the theatres actors nor a direct appeal by international organizations could make the georgian government

budge. saakashvili never forgave the director he saw as undesirable. in the system i think it was a very good old boy too and more involvement with a theater. in syria typical for the theater. director out of the traditional stance which include now it's marked turn to be good and i'm glad that i was kicked out by the government not by the actors there would have been a real catastrophe for me. today robert stewart works abroad he had plans to stage shakespeare's tempest in moscow's etc theater six months before he was exiled. for going to the problems you were but this is the problem a man expelled from his homeland together with his daughter of moves being driven out of his senses for folks with flu. viruses well after.

many reviewers think stewart his production is actually about himself prosper over the play's main character is an avid reader scholar and artist. melanne expels him from his home town because he fears the prosper will strip him of power. and this is the key to cried to the sea that roared to us to sun i to the winds whose pity sighing back again did us bud loving wrong. stuart a hopes he'll be allowed to stage productions in georgia. but this is impossible for the time being. george's best theaters are run by the government the ministry of culture has no intention of funding stewart as productions. i won't give up so easily i will survive this trial.

it's. just simply is. probably. it's.

georgia's capital tbilisi has acquired a new look in recent years the city's spirit and its unique architecture have been restored central tblisi attracts many tourists however several streets are still massive construction sites. but if you come here to see the city's historical center they would give you so they don't really care about its outskirts. give e.s.d. is one of georgia's most successful restoration architects the old central areas of

several towns have been revamped. divied began his restoration work in the ancient town of signal. the job was nowhere near the scale of tbilisi but back then it was the first time that several neighborhoods were restored civil taney asli. us. but then the amount of work and its intensity were overwhelming in the beginning. of the park he just given up the project took nearly nine months of continuous work with the village where he slept three or four hours a day. but despite all the difficulties we completed the job successfully. signal today is one of george's tourist attractions while architects were trying to

improve the town's appearance the residents had no idea of what was really going on behind their backs. before restoration work began a small shop in central signal was taking in a small but stable income for time out of barely order to shoot it's only a restoration started in two thousand and seven as you know. was mayor at the time he came to us and said that they needed our facilities and that we have to go. down thirty officers from the financial police came to our store and said that unless my husband and i give up the fight we would drop in prison for the rest of our lives. ordinary georgians stand no chance of winning a fight against the while old machinery of the state the fifty square meters of the shop no longer belong to its form a owners. in fact we have been deprived of the only means of earning

a living and i have got their originals of all the papers they lend elias to the ownership rights on the basis of coppice i come up september so far we've been unable to find justice but we don't give up hope. renovation work began in the historical part of gori in the early autumn of two thousand and eleven some of the residents are worried by the prospect of being barred from their homes are after the renovation but others still have trust in the promises made by the local administration alexander moved the lids and lives and works in the same house. yes you are but the dummy of my driving school and my home are one and the same will. both of us are going to move out soon after what will stay in a new place only for a time after their innovation will return here about the put out of uni for.

renovation is in full swing in nearby houses the tenants have already been evicted . alexander expects to be forced out any time now he hopes his students will get their licenses before work begins on his house. this street and the neighborhood will look much nicer i don't know what may have happened somewhere once i'm not responsible for that anyway. but i know for sure that i'll continue to be master here as long as. and no doubt my descendants will be to. know the restoration and the way people legalize their claim to renovated houses were the subject of a talk show with a local t.v. company try lettie the show lasted one and a half hours none of the officials invited to the programme turned up this is what an independent lawyer representing the opposition of the local municipal council

had to say. to municipal council has been stripped of its rights. a situation where everything depends on we can all saakashvili is good will is wrong. that is what people in every family think. alexander was among those who called the talk show. this group yes this is a project suggested by the government and the municipal authorities why do you doubt that it will be carried out. out of our under the work. did you only have an agreement or did you see the papers saying you own the place. other than the papers are ready i'm told they invited us and we had an understanding we signed the papers and they will explain to us what will happen next. is

a local deputy was less optimistic he felt government p.r. campaigns have pulled the wool over people's eyes and those people who were suspicious of the work were simply afraid to speak out. because i think most of the people in georgia today are against the president and his man i here is for many many people they'll say we don't like sack policies but we will speak out because. we have families mothers fathers children and other relatives. john don't and yet or she really is the owner and director general of trial at e.t.v. he can't be fired from his job he can't be prevented from inviting the opposition to take part in live broadcast but the company is a thorn in the side of the country's leaders in the autumn of two thousand and ten and then yet it was asked to sell it to a government controlled construction firm for six million dollars.

company has already earned a reputation. and that's quite an asset in itself. i might have sold it if they hadn't told me i must leave the country and never come back. at noon three days later a police patrol stormed john doe while he was driving to a bank. i was stopped the policeman demanded i produce my papers after the us they pulled me out of a hunk of to me and forced me to the ground then four more police cars turned up they punched and kicked me when passers by gathered on the scene the cops picked me up from the ground my clothes all had boot prints on them they cleaned me out. and wished me away to court. three hours later the judge slapped a three hundred dollar fine on john doe not yet ismaili for obstructing the police

for outdoor video cameras mounted on a nearby bank and the shop had recorded the moment when the director general of the prominent t.v. company was beaten up but the film was not filed or used in the case. little of this pressure and complete monopoly of the media caused by sack ash really is absolutely unheard of seems some of the intimidation of the press is unprecedented i'm of the time and there is daily pressure on my employees associates and relatives to the seizure of a cash in transit vehicle belonging to my bank was totally against the law. but all of this won't hold me back. for a billionaire the arrest of one cash fan is a drop in the ocean what is more important is the fact that several major georgian companies withdrew their account from his call to the bank within days there were financial inspections in some of its branches. like most georgian intellectuals

actress marina from the. theater has a vital stake in seeing code to banks continued prosperity. the bank funded research yours actors and directors at many theaters it also provided money for maintenance of the salaries paid to actors and other theater employees are not high enough to know no matter how high they may be the bank paid actors twice or three times as much. a protest in support of bank is under way in georgia thousands of people across the country have opened accounts in the bank branches they deposit whatever money they have georgian intellectuals hope that event will stand his ground and be able to continue financing scientists artists writers and actors.

was a long lived piece was there we are free people who are afraid of that actress in yasukuni or philly found employment at the chatah ghost of yearly theater when she was twenty one years old she thinks of robert stuart a as a second father. he was the one who saw her talent and made her the lead actress. this. this theater has a history of celebrated directors. but the big question is who will be the next one . if you have a splinter in your skin you need to pull it out if you don't want it to rot there are politics and the arts don't go together in this way is such a pressurized an artist's trying to control them is totally wrong. meanwhile

actors prefer the stage of one of george's oldest theaters but without an artistic director to guide them. the international shakespeare society ranks robert stewart as london production of hamlet as one of the ten best productions in the past fifty years. after i lost my job at twenty at the georgian fiesta and george and don says it's a shame quit that's what makes our country popular in the wild west that shiz since my cherished hope is to see everything changed for the better. actors of the show taught us to valley theatre still perform vintage plays in front of a full house every day. but at the same time a world renowned georgian director cannot work in his home country. store a can now only see his own productions as a regular theatregoer rather than as its leading light.

the arab league of loggerheads qatar calls for it to then should and syria other members what it could lead to a region wide west that says damascus announces majestie for political prisoners in accordance with a peace plan. london ups the ante against a rabbi pushing for a tough you want to go which surrounds promise to counter by blocking a vital transit route. the u.k. says it will take military action in the persian gulf if the islamic state follows through with its threats joining me from london just a few moments. reveals his plans to battle corruption and tackle poverty as he begins since to see the press.