Ithaca City of Asylum’s fourth resident writer, Irakli Kakabadze, resumed his career as a human rights campaigner in the Republic of Georgia in 2012 after the defeat of Prime Minister Saakashvili, under whose regime he was harassed and imprisoned five times. During a February 2015 protest at a trial of the murderers of an activist, he was assaulted and threatened by a member of a paramilitary group.

Kakabadze is currently teaching at the Georgian American University and International Caucasus University. Three of his new plays have been staged in Georgia in recent years. He is also working with an advocacy group, the Institute for Multi-track Diplomacy, Georgia.

Kakabadze’s wife, Anna Dolidze, who received a J.S.D. from Cornell Law School while Kakabadze was writer in residence in Ithaca, has just been appointed Deputy Minister for Defense of the Republic of Georgia. Dolidze, who is a professor at Western Law in Canada, will have responsibilities in the area of human rights, including international relations and international law activities of the Ministry, cooperation with NATO, and the rights of veterans.