DFWatch staff 
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s ruling party is going to pick Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani as a candidate for president, an opposition TV station claims.
Rustavi 2 TV claimed Tsulukiani’s candidacy has been approved by former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili.
TBILISI, DFWatch–South Ossetia has imposed strict security measures in Akhalgori, the only part of the breakaway republic inhabited predominantly by ethnic Georgians.
Units of the region’s riot police have been deployed to the town of Akhalgori and its surroundings.
TBILISI, DFWatch–South Ossetia’s de facto authorities still refuse to hand over the body of a former Georgian soldier who died after what appears to have been physical abuse by prison guards, and has instead repeated allegations that the 2008 war was a ‘genocide’ against Ossetians.
TBILISI, DFWatch–The manager of a private school linked to the exiled Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen was included in the state protection program, his lawyer confirmed Thursday.
Mustafa Emre Cabuk, quality manager at Demirel College, was released on bail on February 19
GALI, DFWatch–After requiring people to obtain a residency permit which costs almost USD 200, breakaway Abkhazia now threatens to cut off pensions and teachers’ salaries of those who don’t comply. Locals in the Gali region consider the new regulation a form of blackmail.
TBILISI, DFWatch–A former Georgian military serviceman died Friday morning in South Ossetia after what appears to have been physical abuse by prison guards. Georgia demands an immediate and impartial investigation of the incident and access to the corpse for Georgian forensic experts. The breakaway region’s Security Ministry announced the death of Archil Tatunashvili Friday morning. … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–South Ossetia’s population is dwindling, and the de facto authorities will have to do something to address the problem, local media report.
In 2017, there were born 513 babies in the breakaway region, which has experienced a 20% drop in its birth rate
GALI, DFWatch–Four-wheel horse carts (‘tachkas’) are still the main means of transport for crossing the Enguri Bridge, which separates breakaway Abkhazia from Georgia proper. However, recently three ‘marshrutkas’ have started competing for this profitable business,
TBILISI, DFWatch–The president of Georgia has hinted that Russia may have manipulated media in Europe and made them focus on crime committed by Georgian nationals.
“It may be the result of Russian propaganda when in the capitals of some European countries
TBILISI, DFWatch–The manager of a private school linked to the exiled Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen was released on bail by a Tbilisi court on Monday.
Mustafa Emre Cabuk, quality manager at Demirel College, was arrested in May, 2017 in what appeared to be a case of pressure