Daily Archives: December 28, 2011

New law illegal, say rights groups

By | December 28th, 2011|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch - Several authoritative non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Georgia consider the retrospective powers of a new law amendment unconstitutional and are asking the president to veto it. The amendment imposes sanctions on political parties that have received money via private companies during the last few months, which was and still is legal until January 1. [...]

Opposition must return tycoon’s gifts

By | December 28th, 2011|Categories: Elections, News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch - The political partners of the Georgian tycoon turned opposition leader will have to return the money they received from him. Otherwise, they must give it to the state. This is the consequence of a new bill approved by parliament on Wednesday at the third and last hearing. The final version of the bill [...]

The right to health care and Georgia’s penitentiary system

By | December 28th, 2011|Categories: Opinion|Tags: , , |

Despite the fact that the Ministry of Corrections, Probation and Legal Assistance declared the reform of the penitentiary health care as one of the priority directions and carried our measures in this area, health care in prisons still remains the Achilles’ heel of Georgia’s penitentiary system. The situation is made difficult by the disproportionate distribution of [...]

Gov’t postpones media monitoring debate

By | December 28th, 2011|Categories: In brief, News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch - The ruling party in Georgia has postponed until spring to decide how to monitor the media before next election in ten months time. If things stay the same, the national TV networks will have the same opportunities as last time. During the local elections in 2010, media monitoring was conducted with the support [...]

Access to media crucial in 2012 election

By | December 28th, 2011|Categories: Elections, Media, News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch - As a bundle of election related bills are up for final review in parliament, it became clear Tuesday that the ruling party is against a proposal prepared by media workers about how to conduct monitoring of media fairness during the election campaign. The proposal concerns changes to the Election Code and the law [...]

NGOs warn: unfair election system

By | December 28th, 2011|Categories: Elections, News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch - Tuesday Georgia's new election system should have been passed in parliament, but the package of bills was stopped in the last minute by a group of rights activists, who warned of potential problems. The groups are sounding the alarm that the new election system does not create a level playing field. Several experts [...]