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 United National Movement in October 2012, Georgian Dream has controlled at least two thirds of seats in the national assembly - until now. But although numerically losing the seats required [...]
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 [...]
News
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 [...]
South Ossetia honors Russian journalists who covered 2008 war
(Cominf.org) TBILISI, DFWatch--Separatist leader Anatoly Bibilov from the breakaway region South Ossetia presented awards to Russian journalists for ‘objectively’ covering the 2008 war. The event in Moscow on Tuesday honored a number of [...]
Russia picks woman from Georgian breakaway region to head national tourism agency
Zarina Doguzova. (Rosturizm official website.) TBILISI, DFWatch--A woman originally from the Georgian breakaway territory of South Ossetia was Thursday appointed head of Russia's federal tourism agency Rosturizm, TASS reports. Prior to her new [...]
Abkhazia reopens Enguri bridge after nearly month long ‘flu quarantine’
Shopping center at Rukhi. (Facebook.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Traffic resumed Tuesday across the Enguri bridge, the only crossing between the breakaway region Abkhazia and Georgia proper, locals told DFWatch. However, the bureaucratic hurdles bar most [...]
Wizzair to launch six new destinations out of Kutaisi from August
TBILISI, DFWatch--From August, 2019, several new flight destinations will connect Kutaisi with cities in Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Estonia, Netherlands and Italy. The new flights to Basel, Copenhagen, Brussels, Tallinn, Eindhoven and Bari will be offered [...]
16 detained in Georgia for spreading compromising video of ruling party politician on social media
Eka Beselia expressed hope that the investigation will reveal who are behind the smear campaign. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Police in Georgia detained 16 persons on Friday after compromising videos were spread on social media [...]
Abkhazia may block people from leaving to seek medical treatment because it undermines the breakaway region’s ‘statehood’
Temur Nadaraia. GALI, DFWatch--Sokhumi ponders prohibiting Abkhazians from travelling to Georgia proper for medical treatment and in search of other opportunities, because these developments undermine the breakaway region’s 'statehood'. "Those Abkhazians who go [...]
UK fugitive surrenders to police in Tbilisi, Georgia
Screenshot from the interview Jack Shepherd gave to Georgian TV station Rustavi 2, in which he said he was framed by the media. TBILISI, DFWatch--Jack Shepherd, 31, a UK national who was sentenced [...]
20 students may fail exams due to Abakhazia’s flu quarantine
(apsadgil.info) TBILISI, DFWatch--Due to the closure of the Enguri checkpoint, students from breakaway Abkhazia's Gali district are unable pass their exams, which may result in their expulsion from the university. The problems come [...]
“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 [...]