South Ossetia claims drones ‘violated’ its ‘airspace’
Egor Kochiev. (cominf.org.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Five unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) violated ‘South Ossetian airspace’ simultaneously, entering from Georgia proper, breakaway South Ossetia claims. "One of them hovered over the town of Kvaisa for 20 minutes and then flew towards Georgia," Egor Kochiev, the head of South Ossetian delegation, said on Friday after a meeting of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM). The drones [...]
Russia bolsters military presence in Abkhazia with 30% troop increase
Russian troops in Abkhazia. (SMD press-office.) TBILISI, DFWatch--The number of Russian troops in breakaway Abkhazia has increased by 30 percent in the last year, Apsnipress reported on Wednesday. The Sokhumi based news agency [...]
News
Georgia’s ex-president Saakashvili finally leaves party reins, recommends successor
Mikheil Saakashvili. (Facebook.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia's exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili has asked his political party to find a replacement for him as leader, in order to make it more “flexible”. In a video [...]
Tbilisi puzzled by Georgian inscriptions on weapons used in Christchurch mosque attacks
King David IV The Builder. (George Nikladze.) TBILISI, DWatch--Officials in Tbilisi are puzzled by media reports of inscriptions in the Georgian alphabet on the weapons of the terrorist who slaughtered 49 people and [...]
29-year-old Georgian man dies under suspicious circumstances while detained in Abkhazia
(apsadgil.info) TBILISI, DFWatch--A 29 year-old man has died under suspicious circumstances while in detention by separatist forces in breakaway Abkhazia. The man was detained earlier for trying to cross the administrative borderline between [...]
33rd ISIS fighter from Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge dead in Syrian war
TBILISI, DFWatch--A man from Pankisi valley in Georgia have been killed in Syria. Ruslan Tokhosashvili, 35, was the 33rd Kist militant from Pankisi killed in Syria, local-based radio station, Radioway, reports. Tokhosashvili reportedly left his [...]
TBC Bank accuses Georgian government of blackmail
Mamuka Khazaradze, former chair of TBC Bank's supervisory board. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--The Georgian government's reputation for interfering in business was further strengthened on Monday as the founder of the country's largest bank accused [...]
Number of foreign students in Georgia doubles in four years
Foreign medical students in Georgia. (Commersant.ge.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Nearly 29,000 foreign students are enrolled at universities and other higher educational institutions in Georgia; most of them come from Turkey, Iraq and India, as well [...]
Georgia’s ruling party loses constitutional majority in parliament
Eka Beselia. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia’s ruling party has lost its constitutional majority after three of its members of parliament left the party on Friday. Ever since the party seized power from Mikheil Saakashvili's [...]
Georgia considers ban on making maps of the country without its breakaway regions
A map of Georgia. (RFE/RL.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia may make it a criminal offense to make maps of the country without the two breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia as constituent parts. Parliament is [...]
Georgia’s National Bank sanctions two of TBC Bank’s top people
Mamuka Khazaradze. TBILISI, DFWatch--The confrontation between Georgia’s biggest private financial institution and the government grew worse on Thursday as the National Bank sanctioned two of the key persons in TBC Bank. The National [...]
“Zurabishvili and the GD should be worried”: American analysts speak on Georgian elections
Paul Stronski. (VOA) Voice of America’s Anna Kalandadze discussed aftermath and fallout of the first round of presidential elections in Georgia with leading Eurasia analysts in Washington. Anna Kalandadze is VOA Georgian chief [...]
Europe and Georgia
PACE to discuss dismissing its president in October
PACE President Pedro Agramunt. (Council of Europe.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will discuss a proposal to dismiss its chairperson in early October after a motion was tabled on Friday. The motion to dismiss PACE President Pedro Agramunt was backed by 158 out of the 636 member […]
Opinion
Minorities
Groups say 25-year old’s fatal stabbing in Tbilisi was motivated by xenophobia
Vitali Safarov (Facebook). TBILISI, DFWatch--A young human rights activist who was stabbed to death in Tbilisi nearly two weeks ago was murdered by members of a neo-Nazi group, Georgian civic activists say. Vitali [...]
NGO News
Georgian civic groups suspect government is behind smear campaign on Facebook
Eka Gigauri. (Facebook.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia's largest NGOs suspect that the government is masterminding a smear campaign against them using internet trolls. "These dull caricatures with their Facebook pages [...]
NGO coalition in Georgia proposes new procedure for selecting chief prosecutor
DFWatch Editor-in-Chief Lasha Tughushi is one of the authors of the bill. Behind him, co-author Natia Kuprashvili. TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s largest NGO coalition proposes an overhaul of the existing system for selecting a chief prosecutor in order to minimize the risk that one party takes the decision unilaterally. The proposed bill comes in the wake of a two-week-long series of rallies in Tbilisi […]
CSOs Seek Involvement in Public Defender’s Selection Process
We would like to respond to the statements related to the selection of Georgian Public Defender and call on the Parliament of Georgia to ensure civil society participation in the [...]