Pedzina Ivanevili, the billionaire that divides the Georgians

Most of the villagers in Chorvila in the northwest of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, their proud son who is widely seen as a real man in power.

It is a mailing card where the roads are good, the homes that are well -maintained and there are many blue and yellow flags for the ruling Georgian dream party.

“All this area through which you can see new homes and methods made by our legs. There was nothing without him and did everything for us,” says resident of Mamia Manshaviani, pointing to the village from a nearby forest.

Ivanevili founded the Georgian dream (GD) and the party in power for 12 years.

For more than four months, the Georgian moved to the streets throughout the country to accuse the Ivanevili party of falsifying the elections last October and accusing GD of trying to move the country away by its way to the European Union and return to the field of influence of Russia.

GD denies that and in Chorvila you will not find anyone with a bad word to say about her billionaire son.

Ivaneshevili achieved his wealth in Russia in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, first by selling computers before obtaining banks and metal assets. He returned to Georgia in 2003.

Each newly married couple at Chorvila receives a cash gift of $ 3,000 (2,300 pounds) from Ivanishvili, according to Timori Kabanadzi, who teaches history at the village school where Ivanyville went as a boy.

Unlike most schools in Georgia’s countryside, it contains its own swimming pool and an internal basketball court.

“He rebuilt the hospital, built two churches, raised all the roads, and made all the roofs throughout the area,” says Timuri.

“I personally received a refrigerator, television, and fuel for a period of five years. Mr. Bidzina helped us by paying 200 Laris (55 pounds) every month.”

Here they accuse opposition to the organization of pro -government protests and the use of young people as their “tools.”

“We also want Europe, but with our traditions, and this is what the government also wants,” says resident Giorgi Porginsides. “We are a Christian state, and our traditions mean that men should be men, and women should be women. President Trump believes like us too.”

The opinion that Europe is trying to impose strange values ​​on Georgian traditions, such as gay rights, often repeat state ministers and the supporters of the government.

They also rejected the daily protests sparked by the Georgian dream decision to suspend talks with the European Union on the country’s membership in the future.

“Fire to the oligarchy” has become one of the main slogans in the ongoing protests to address what people say is the overwhelming influence of Busina Ivanevili on the country’s policy.

“Georgia is currently governing a lack of a very Russian agenda,” says Tamara Arlesfs, 26, who joined the protests in the capital, Tbilisi, almost every day, to fight what you see as the lands of Ivaneville overwhelming.

“He possesses everything, and all institutions and all government forces and resources. He sees that this country is its own property, and he rules this country as if it was his own work.”

Last month, Tamara and her friend were arrested in an accident It was captured on mobile phones And a virus went. They were driving towards the protest site, and they shouted the phrase “fire on the oligarchy” when a number of convincing policemen surrounded the car and tried to storm it.

“This happened in seconds, but I felt hours. I was shocked by how sharply they were trying to do so, if we encountered out of the car, I do not know what would have happened.”

The Tamara license has been canceled for a year and may face prison sentence for the police in the police. It has been fined 3600 dollars, which is an enormous amount in Georgia, where the average monthly salary is $ 500.

Since the disputed parliamentary elections, which were criticized by international observers, the Georgian opposition has been boycotting the parliament, leaving the ruling Georgian dream to seal the rubber any proposed changes to the law.

“We are witnessing the abuse of laws,” says Tamar Unyani, director of the Human Rights Program at the Georgian Youth Lawyers Association.

“First, he was banning face masks, and then they published face recognition cameras in Tbilisi. So it is easy for them to discover those who appear in the assembly and then request high fines.”

Last month, the fines rose ten times because they were banned on the road or the police disobedience, and Tamar Unyani says in one day alone that they received 150 calls from the demonstrators who were fined.

Prime Minister Irkli Cobachides recently condemned the demonstrators as a “unexplained bloc” and thanked them for sarcastically for “renewing the state budget” with heavy fines.

“The judiciary is completely captured” and works as one of the tools against the demonstrators, who says it was beaten in the reservation.

“They were tortured only by being part of the protest and being in support of the future of Georgia.”

The government denies these allegations.

Since the protests began last November, hundreds of civil service employees have lost their jobs after they signed petitions criticizing the government’s decision to suspend talks with the European Union.

“The government decided to purify the public sector for employees who were not loyal to them,” says Nini Lezhava, who was among those who lost their jobs.

She was in a great position at the Georgia Parliamentary Research Center, which was assigned to submit unborn reports to members of Parliament and since then it was canceled.

“They no longer need it. They have their own policy and they don’t want anyone with an independent analytical ability,” she says.

Nini says a similar “cleansing” has occurred in the ministries of defense and justice, and other governmental institutions: “It is happening in the entire public sector in Georgia.”

“They are trying to create another Russian satellite in this region. This goes beyond Georgia and outside the Black Sea, outside the southern Caucasus, because we see what is happening in the world. This is a greater geopolitical transformation.”

In Chorvila, the history teacher Temuri Kapanadze sees the government’s approach to Russia completely differently: “There are no friends and enemies forever. Yesterday’s enemy can become a friend today.”

Listen more about this story hereOn the BBC World Service mission