DFWatch staff TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgian authorities have stopped paying compensation to families of people who were victim of Soviet repression, according to Giorgi Tsagareishvili, representative of the Free Democrats and chairman of the parliamentary bloc Unity for Justice. Tsagareishvili asked finance minister Dimitry Gvindadze to clarify the issue Thursday at a plenary session in parliament to … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – An opposition lawmaker accuses the government of having spent 219 million lari and trying to hide it by creative budgeting. Jondi Bagaturia of the Georgian Group party, who is part of the Unity for Justice bloc in parliament, said this at a plenary session Thursday to review the country’s 2011 budget. The … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian finance minister says the country will financially stand on its feet in 2012. Dimitri Gvindadze made this statement today in parliament as lawmakers were gathered for a plenary session to review the 2011 budget. In its revised form, the 2011 budget will be increased by 219 million lari, to 7 … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia establishes a new system based on ethnicity, which gives people of Georgian origin the right to visa free travel, education grants and to represent their mother country at sports events. The Law on Diaspora Organizations and Compatriots Living Abroad was approved by parliament Thursday. It establishes a new status for citizens … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – The 1970s mega project to build a dam in Khudoni Valley is moving ahead despite obscure funding and secretive implementation. Last week villagers were told they will have to leave. Their resettlement will be planned by an organization founded by Georgia’s Interior Minister, Vano Merabishvili (pictured). Khudoni would have been the second … Read more
TBILILSI, DFWatch – Georgia has received a stern message from Western diplomats to amend its Labor Code during a conference dedicated to facilitate social dialogue held in Tbilisi on Thursday. The European Union’s mission in Georgia made its position quite clear: If Georgia doesn’t change its Labor Code, it will get neither EU Association Agreement … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – The script writer for a new TV show has broken off his cooperation with businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili, due to threats against his family. Zviad Bliadze was recently signed up to be the writer for an animated satire show that is to be financed by Ivanishvili, called Dardubala. But his family members were … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Police in Tbilisi Tuesday afternoon arrested six employees of CartuBank in an armed operation against the bank which belongs to the businessman who ten days ago said he would challenge president Saakashvili’s almost total power grip over the country. Government friendly TV Rustavi 2 reports that several are detained for money laundering, … Read more
A top official working for the regime in Tskhinvali says he agrees with revelations the financier Bidzina Ivanishvili put forth in a lengthy open letter published Wednesday as part of his effort to unseat president Saakashvili and give the country back to its people. A close advisor to so-called South Ossetian president Eduard Kokoiti told … Read more
“Stop, Misha, you are standing on the edge of the abyss, stop!” was the fincier Bidzina Ivanishvili’s message to Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili Wednesday. As the financier, who is one of the world’s richest, released his second statement on a mission to unseat the Georgian leader, he clarified his position towards the different oppositional groups … Read more