TBILISI, November 20 – Georgia’s Public Defender says overcrowding and basic conditions in the country’s largest jail remain a serious problem. In a statement on Thursday, the Public Defender’s Office said its National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) regularly visits Prison No 8 in Gldani, northern Tbilisi, and other facilities and has already carried out 114 inspection … Read more
TBILISI, November 20 – Tbilisi’s City Court has sentenced former Georgian defense minister Irakli Okruashvili to seven years in prison over a controversial 2004 police killing that shook the country during the early days of the Saakashvili administration. In the same ruling Wednesday, the court decided that ex-chief prosecutor Zurab Adeishvili, accused in the same … Read more
TBILISI, November 20 – An opposition lawmaker on Thursday challenged the government’s version of a breakdown in human rights dialogue with Brussels, claiming that the ruling party was trying to circumvent sanctions policy. Vika Pilpani, a member of parliament for the For Georgia party, claimed Tbilisi attempted to send a sanctioned official as part of … Read more
TBILISI, November 19 – Georgia’s Foreign Ministry sharply criticized Brussels on Wednesday after the European Union postponed a scheduled human rights dialogue that Tbilisi had viewed as one of the few remaining openings for direct engagement. The meeting was set to take place this Friday, November 21, in Brussels. According to the Georgian side, the … Read more
TBILISI, November 19 – Georgia is seeing unusually high air pollution levels this week, with the government reporting elevated concentrations of fine dust above several cities. The new data was released Wednesday, November 19, by the National Environment Agency and shows solid particle pollution has spiked in Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kutaisi and Batumi. The agency’s online … Read more
TBILISI, November 19 – A recent meeting among parliamentarians across Europe turned into a stage for Georgia’s domestic politics this week, as both ruling party and opposition traded blows. The spat began in Istanbul during one of the regular meetings of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE), which draws together elected representatives … Read more
TBILISI, November 18 – Georgia’s National Food Agency warned on Tuesday that milk and dairy products sold at informal street markets pose a real risk to consumers’ health. In a statement released in Tbilisi, the agency said it is carrying out non-stop monitoring of milk production from the farm level to the point of sale. … Read more
TBILISI, November 18 – Representatives from Tbilisi, the Russian-backed authorities in Tskhinvali, and international observers met in the village of Ergneti on Tuesday for a scheduled meeting of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM). The Georgian State Security Service said the meeting reviewed all major incidents recorded since the previous meeting, including the killing … Read more
TBILISI, November 18 – Georgia’s ruling party has launched a plan to dissolve the state body known as the Administration of the Former South Ossetian Autonomous District, a structure created nearly two decades ago to represent ethnic Ossetians living under Georgian jurisdiction. A draft law introduced in parliament on Tuesday would abolish the administration from … Read more
TBILISI, November 17 – Protesters in Tbilisi have shifted tactics after weeks of standoffs with police on Rustaveli Avenue, moving their demonstrations off the roadway and into long evening marches along downtown sidewalks. The change follows days of pressure from police, who repeatedly blocked attempts to obstruct traffic and warned participants that repeat offences could … Read more