President Zourabichvili rebuffs pardoning Rurua – “No one and nothing can influence me”
Salome Zourabichvili (1tv.ge). Despite growing number of appeals, President Salome Zourabichvili has rebuffed to pardon Giorgi Rurua, opposition activist and former paramilitary. “I won’t pardon. The Georgian society knows better than me everything about him and is aware why I will not make this decision. No one and nothing can influence me,” Salome Zourabichvili said Friday. Many in Georgia and abroad had hoped [...]
23 y/o programmer mysteriously disappeared, found dead near Tbilisi
Tamar Bachaliashvili (Facebook). The mysterious disappearance and death of a 23 year old programmer cause mass agitation in Georgia. The police clearly indicate that cause of death was a suicide, which is flatly [...]
News
Ex-official charged with mass torture in Georgian prison extradited from Germany
Davit Chakua (center) upon his extradition in Batumi airport. (1tv.ge) TBILISI, DFWatch--Germany Friday extradited the former head of Georgia's prison department Davit Chakua, who is charged with abuse of powers, humiliating and inhumane [...]
Georgia lifts restrictions from exhibitions, trainings and conferences
Activities such as exhibitions, trainings and conferences are expected to be allowed from July 6 on, but this does not apply to swimming pools and fitness centers, said Economy Minister Natia Turnava Tuesday after Interagency [...]
Abkhazia temporarily reopens Enguri crossing for “humanitarian reasons”
Sokhumi regime re-opens the sole crossing point on the river Enguri for three days for “humanitarian reasons” for the return of “citizens and residents of the republic temporarily being in Georgia”, the breakaway republic’s security [...]
Did Kadyrov send a hitman to murder Georgian journalist for swearing at his patron?
Riot police at the scene of Vasambeg Bokov arrest. (RFE/RL) Mounting evidence indicates the authoritarian leader of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has sent a hitman “to punish” Georgian journalist for publicly insulting President Vladimir [...]
Libertarian group rallies in Tbilisi, demands swift re-opening of gyms
(Girchi.com) A couple dozen people, mostly gym employees and libertarian opposition party Girchi members, rallied in front of Georgian government in Tbilisi Tuesday demanding re-opening gyms. Protesters say they don’t understand why they [...]
Wizzair drops 19 destinations from Kutaisi base: source
Wizzair planes at Kutaisi Int. Airport (1tv.ge) A Hungarian lowcoster WizzAir has removed 19 routes from Kutaisi, its base in Georgia, and decreased number of based aircraft to two, from previous three, Belgian [...]
Prominent mobster’s family, friends clash with police in Georgia, 9 detained
(RFE/RL.) At least nine people were detained in Adjara Friday during a clash between the police and a group of people demanding extradition to Georgia of a prominent mobster. The clash occurred Friday [...]
Georgian March turns political party, pledges to hold convention in a week
Sandro Bregadze (1tv.ge). Georgian far-right group Georgian March plans to set up a political party and settle deeper in Georgian politics, its leader Sandro Bregadze says. "We were forced to go into politics [...]
Amid optimistic figures Georgia starts reopening restaurants, malls, public transportation
(Imedinews.ge) Georgia will scale down most of restrictions imposed in February and March, including public transportation, shopping malls and even cafes and restaurants, PM Giorgi Gakharia said Wednesday. Public transportation, including metro, buses [...]
Such campaigns against American NGOs are being run out of the Kremlin: IRI president
Daniel Twining (Twitter). “I am a little surprised to be talking about this in the context of Georgia, because such a campaign against American NGOs is being run out of the Kremlin […] [...]
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
Companies related to GD donors receive tens of millions of public funds: Report
GD president Bidzina Ivanishvili (left) and speaker of parliament Archil Talakvadze. (Facebook.) Georgia’s ruling party received almost half of revenues totally got by all parties in 2019, whilst [...]
Georgian NGOs call on government to immediately move toward proportional electoral system
Georgia’s major NGOs call upon the government to “fulfil the promise made to the public and move to a proportional electoral system”, which will be assumed as its readiness to [...]
Independent lawyers in Georgia urge parliament to condemn “clan-based” governance in judiciary
High Council of Justice. (hcoj.gov.ge) A group of independent lawyers and legal experts has submitted a draft resolution in the parliament of Georgia in which they ask for [...]