Tamar Khidasheli is Georgian Dream’s candidate for parliament in Sagarejo. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–By-elections for parliament and local elections went ahead in Georgia on Saturday with some minor irregularities. Two seats in parliament are up for election in Martvili and Sagarejo while there are local elections in Dmanisi, Vani, Khobi and Sagarejo. […]
President Giorgi Margvelashvili. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian president views as it unacceptable to have a senior official in a foreign country interfering in domestic affairs and planning mayhem in Georgia. President Giorgi Margvelashvili’s briefing on Friday was held in response to the controversy […]
Nika Gvaramia (right) and Giga Bokeria on their way to State Security Service (IPN) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s State Security Service, which has kept on probing into alleged coup attempt since October 24, summoned director general of opposition TV Channel Rustavi 2 and a prominent member of the United National Movement for questioning […]
Mikheil Saakashvili (IPN) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s former president, who now serves as Odessa regional governor in Ukraine, commented over recently published two audios containing his conversation with his Georgian allies where he mentions possibility […]
“Big brother is watching/listening/etc us,” Nika Gvaramia wrote on his Facebook page. TBILISI, DFWatch–The CEO of Georgia’s main opposition TV channel and a key opposition figure both confirm the authenticity of audio tapes about a ‘revolution scenario’. The recording has sent ripples across the country’s political establishment […]
Nika Gvaramia called for Rustavi 2 supporters to help defend the TV Channel (Ipn) TBILISI, DFWatch–Trial over ownership of Rustavi 2 was postponed for Friday, amid eerie predictions of its director that the riot police has been put on alert in order to forcibly take over Georgia’s main opposition-leaning TV channel. Nika Gvaramia, […]
Tbilisi, DFWatch – Georgia ranked 24th among 189 countries, and still the first among post-Soviet countries, except Baltic States, in Doing Business 2016, a World Bank annual report that measures the costs to firms of business regulations, published on Wednesday, a way below of its 15th position last year. […]
Gogi Topadze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A member of parliament from the ruling Georgian Dream coalition Monday evening openly praised Joseph Stalin and called him ‘the greatest Georgian’ of the 20th century. Gogi Topadze, leader of the Industrialists Party, met Giorgi Kandelaki, […]
Davit Usupashvili. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The speaker of the Georgian parliament views with suspicion material published on a website in Ukraine indicating a coup plan against the government in Georgia. Speaker Davit Usupashvili claimed that if a criminal probe is conducted solely based on information provided by the Ukrainian blog […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–The lawsuit about the ownership of an opposition television channel resumed in the city court in Tbilisi on Monday. The judge ordered Rustavi 2’s lawyers to present an estimate of expected losses after the court ordered the seizure of the company’s property. […]
June 2 has become the rallying day for supporters of legalization. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Possession of up to 70 grams of marijuana is no longer a crime in Georgia, following a ruling in the Constitutional Court. The Court on Saturday struck down as unconstitutional a passage in the law that made it punishable by from 7 to 14 years […]
Giga Bokeria outside the “Moduli” building. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s Prosecutor General’s Office Saturday questioned a former ally of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili on suspicion that he is part a coup plan. A transcript of an alleged conversation between Saakashvili and Giga Bokeria, […]
(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Prosecutor General’s Office in Georgia says the director of the embattled television company Rustavi 2 and another person gave contradictory testimony on Thursday in a blackmail case. Rustavi 2 director Nika Gvaramia […]
Sukhumi (DFwatch) The postponement of the full implementation of the treaty on ‘Alliance and Strategic Partnership’, cabinet reshuffles, and demonstrations of opposition parties hint at Abkhazia’s increasingly knotty relation with Russia. […]
(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Tbilisi City Court on Friday acquitted four people for organizing a violent anti-gay rights rally in 2013. The four, who also included clergy in the Georgian Orthodox Church, were on trial for urging protesters who disrupted a peaceful rally to mark the […]
Davit Usupashvili (IPN) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s speaker of parliament calls on authorities and the opposition to avoid making statements that justify violence, as the tension continues surrounding a lawsuit about the ownership of opposition TV channel Rustavi 2. Following […]
Nika Gvaramia. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office Thursday evening named the person who allegedly passed on messages from the government to the director of a television company. Rustavi 2 director Nika Gvaramia said Wednesday that […]
President Giorgi Margvelashvili. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian president Thursday criticized the prime minister for a statement made the same day about the leaking of abuse videos and a lawsuit to determine the ownership of a television company. Instead of defusing the situation PM Garibashvili’s […]
The Saakashvili Presidential Library. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–More footage of rape and torture was published on a Ukrainian website Thursday evening, as attacks on the former ruling party’s offices continue throughout Georgia. Members and supporters of the National Movement believe that the footage […]
Nika Gvaramia. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Prosecutor General’s Office has launched an investigation prompted by a live TV speech on Wednesday in which the director of Rustavi 2 claimed he was blackmailed. According to the short statement by the Prosecutor General’s […]
(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Police in Georgia have detained four persons for for extortion. Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said that the four, Giorgi, 24, Giorgi, 25, Vladimer, 31 and Mikheil, 58, had threatened to kill their victim if he didn’t pay them 55,000 laris (USD 23,000). […]
Nika Gvaramia. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A day before Tbilisi City Court is to announce a ruling in a lawsuit about Rustavi 2, the director of the TV company went on the air to tell viewers that he was threatened by representatives of the government. Instead of the ordinary news program […]
Duisi, Pankisi (DFWatch) Duisi, DFWatch – Counterextremism efforts in the Pankisi Valley fall short as they fail to address root causes of radicalisation processes in the region. Following the reporting on Georgian citizens leaving the country to join the ranks of foreign fighters in the civil war in Syria and Iraq, the question of religious radicalisation in the Pankisi Valley has become one of the most debated security issues in Georgia. […]
Kakhi Kaladze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgian Energy Minister Kakhi Kaladze on Tuesday sought to downplay criticism against his call for increasing the import of Russian natural gas, explaining that the extra supplies from Gazprom […]
(DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The street fair Tbilisoba was this year mostly concentrated in Rike Park and the old part of the capital. Tbilisoba has been celebrated in the second half of October every year since 1979. It usually includes squeezing grapes in massive […]
Public screening of the rape video in Zugdidi (Rustavi 2) Tbilisi, DFWatch – United National Movement’s several regional offices were attacked in Georgia on Monday, in the wake of publication of disgusting video depicting rape of a detainee allegedly during the previous government. Small crowds of 30 to 100 […]
TBILISI, DFWatch– Georgians still prefer European Union over the Russian-led Eurasian Union, but the difference declined significantly over the last year, results of the last NDI polls show. Over the last year, the support of […]
Levon Chidilyan (Alart) DF Watch discusses roots and manifestations of the anti-Armenian sentiment in Georgia with director of Cultural, Educational and Youth Centre Hayartun, Levon Chidilyan. DF Watch: Mr Chidilyan, how representative is Hayartun for Georgia’s Armenian c […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–In a new poll, 35 percent of Georgians say they don’t know who they would vote for if there were a parliamentary election tomorrow. The poll, which was published by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) shows that both the Georgian Dream […]
(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Remittances to Georgia in September went down 32.9 percent compared to last year, according to the latest monthly report by the National Bank. Remittances, or money that individuals send home to relatives from particularly Russia and Europe, […]
Discussion held at Holiday Inn (OSGF) Tbilisi, DFWatch – Legal experts, lawyers, judges, and non-governmental organizations gathered at Holiday Inn in Tbilisi to discuss draft amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedures concerning jury trial worked out by the Ministry of Justice. […]
(Facebook.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Police in Georgia on Friday detained an opposition-leaning journalist for putting up a poster mocking billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. Tamar Chergoleishvili, founder of a television company strongly supportive of the National Movement, was detained with two others as they stuck a poster on […]
Rikoti tunnel. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Chinese investors are considering building a new toll road through Rikoti Pass, connecting the eastern and western parts of Georgia. The regional development minister said Thursday during the Silk Road Forum that passing a road through Rikoti may […]
Opening of the construction (armenianchurch.ge) Javakheti’s Armenian community celebrated the opening of a new church in the village of Didi Aragiali. A ceremony of opening a new church in the village of Didi Aragiali of Ninotsminda municipality inhabited by ethnic Armenian majority was held on 13 October, news portal jnews.ge reports. […]
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda arrived in Georgia Thursday. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrived in Georgia Thursday, to determine if there is basis for a trial for war crimes in the 2008 war. Bensouda earlier this week filed a 160 page long request to authorize an investigation […]
Christmas Mass in the Catholic Church in Tbilisi. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Eight religious organizations in Georgia have filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court, demanding to get rid of legislation that provide beneficial tax terms for the Orthodox Church. Georgia’s Tax Code, as well as an agreement between […]
8th to 12th graders learning about gender issues at a school in Marneuli. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian parliament is to consider making it mandatory to get a court’s permission for persons of the age 16 to 18 to get married. The bill was put forth by parliament’s judiciary committee and is based on a recommendation […]
A truck on the border with Azerbaijan. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s foreign trade turnover in the first nine months of 2015 went down by 13 percent compared to last year, according to a preliminary monthly report published by the National Statistics Department. According to the monthly report, […]
Ergneti border crossing. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The breakaway region South Ossetia plans to open a new border crossing to make it easier for relatives to keep contact. This will be the fourth border crossing between the breakaway area and Georgia proper, and will connect the villages Khelchua […]
Prison Minister Kakha Kakhishvili. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian government will from next year allow the Public Defender’s Office to take pictures inside prison. This will allow photographic evidence to be obtained in cases where there is suspicion of abuse, or when sanitary conditions […]
The National Bank will still supervise private banks, for the time being. (National Bank.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s Constitutional Court has suspended the work of a newly created agency that was to take over the supervision of private banks; previously the responsibility of the National Bank. The ruling was made during a lawsuit against the parliament […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia has the highest proportion of undernourished among South Caucasus countries, according to a new report. From 2014 to 2016, the level of undernourished is estimated to be 7.4 percent. This is higher than both Armenia (5.8 percent) and […]
Giorgi Margvelashvili (right) and his new political adviser Pikria Chikhradze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–President Giorgi Margvelashvili on Monday presented Pikria Chikhradze as his new political adviser. Chikhradze is active in the New Rightists Party and is most known for her work as a youth activist in the National Liberation Movement, […]
Omar al-Shishani, also known as Tarkhan Batirashvili. TBILISI, DFWatch–An Iranian news agency reports that Omar Al-Shishani, an ISIS commander who originally comes from Pankisi, Georgia, has died in an Iraqi air raid. The reports have not yet been confirmed. IRNA reports that Iraqi fighter jets wounded […]
(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–One man died in a landslide in southwestern Georgia on Sunday. The victim, 58 year old Otar Davitadze, was on night watch supervising machinery in an open pit mine when a landslide hit in the village Akhalsheni, Khelvachauri. […]
Akhmed Chatayev in Tbilisi in 2012. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The United States has listed a Chechen with Russian citizenship who was released by the Georgian government in 2012 as connected to the Islamic State. The updated list of individuals affiliated with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, states […]
(DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Construction work began Saturday in the north of Tbilisi on what will become in Georgia’s first palliative care center for children. The initiators of the new hospice marked the start of construction work in the village Dighomi, a Tbilisi suburb. […]
(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The International Criminal Court said Wednesday that a prosecutor will begin studying the events in the 2008 Russia-Georgia war to investigate possible war crimes. The probe will look at crimes committed by both parties in connection […]
Daghestan Bodies of five residents of Suleyman-Stalskiy district were found in local forests by power agents. According to the official information, the men had their hands tied and were killed by the insurgents as a retaliation for cooperating with the police. Authorities also announced that a […]
A flooded street in Kobuleti. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Strong rain overnight Thursday caused flooding and landslides in the Adjara region, in the southwest of Georgia. In Kobuleti, a Black Sea coastal resort, railway traffic was cut off and landslides triggered in the highlands. No casualties have […]
The NGOs react to a decision by Kutaisi City Court to place three Free Zone activists in pre-trial detention. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Tbilisi-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) warn against selective justice from authorities and call on the government to treat everyone equally. The NGOs’ express concern about the detention of the three activists from Tavisufali […]
(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Prison Ministry on Tuesday welcomed an objective investigation into its procurements. According to a report by the State Audit Office on Monday, the same company won all 14 food-related tender in 2013 and 2014. The report also […]
Maia Panjikidze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The Free Democrats has rejected a proposal by the National Movement to hold a snap election one year before the next scheduled one. UNM activists demonstrated Monday evening outside the residence of former Prime Minister […]
(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The State Audit Office Tuesday published a report which indicates that there may have been violations in the Prison Ministry’s public procurements. The report covers the years 2013-2014 and shows that in 14 bidding rounds announced by the ministry, […]
President Giorgi Margvelashvili. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili says there is too little attention being paid to Georgia as a victim of Russian aggression. He told the television channel Rustavi 2 upon returning from the recent United Nations general assembly that […]
Giga Bokeria. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s former ruling party the National Movement demands a snap election, a year before the next scheduled parliamentary election. At a demonstration by party activists outside the residence of businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili Monday, Giga Bokeria […]
(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The family of a soldier who died from a gunshot wound a few days ago refuse to believe that it was a suicide. The deceased, Tamaz Tamarashvili (33) was a private in the Fifth Brigade of the Georgian armed forces. Monday, his family and relatives […]
(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Three activists were detained Friday for assaulting a member of parliament. The detainees are Nika Narsia, Mirian Deisadze and Kakhaber Gabunia, all members of the youth group Tavisupali Zona (Free Zone), which on many occasions […]
A flooded street in Rustavi. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia was hit by a spell of bad weather Saturday night, with hailstorm, strong rain and high winds. The hailstorm in Akhaltsikhe, in the south, lasted for almost one hour. In several villages, crops were destroyed and houses damaged. […]
Levan Kobiashvili addressing the media after being elected new president of GFF. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A lengthy and intense debate in the Georgian Football Federation Saturday ended in the election of Levan Kobiashvili as new president. GFF’s former president Zviad Sichinava resigned after the UEFA Super Cup match in Barcelona-Sevilla in Tbilisi. […]
Supporters of Rustavi 2 demonstrated outside parliament in Kutaisi. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A court hearing in Tbilisi in a lawsuit about control over Georgian television company Rustavi 2 ended without much progress Friday. The preparatory hearing in Tbilisi City Court concerned a lawsuit by businessman Kibar Khalvashi against Rustavi 2. […]
(Radio Free Europe.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The city assembly in Joseph Stalin’s hometown Gori on Friday voted against the idea of re-erecting a six-meter high statue of the dictator. The statue was unveiled in 1952 on the central square in Gori. After the end of the Soviet Union […]
Lake Sioni outside of Tbilisi. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The number of visitors to Georgia increased 12.6 percent in September, compared to the year before, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ department for analysis. The total number of visitors in September was 568,663. Out of this, 227,130 […]
Commemoration of the 22 year anniversary from the Abkhazian War. Heroes Square, Tbilisi (Defense Ministry) As the question of political status of Abkhazia remains a major challenge to peace and security in the region, the two societies commemorate the events of 1993 in radically different manners. As twenty-two years have passed since the end of the war in Abkhazia, […]
Nika Gvaramia and Rustavi 2 employees outside the studio building. (Facebook.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Tbilisi City Court on Thursday ordered the seizure of the shares in the company that owns the television channel Rustavi 2. The court ordered the seizure of all shares in TV Sakartvelo, which holds 51 percent of the shares in Rustavi 2. The latter […]
(DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–By September 28, Georgia had exported 23.3 million bottles of wine so far in 2015. 3.5 million bottles were exported in September, according to the Agriculture Ministry; the highest monthly rate in 2015. The export of wine has tripled, compared […]
Natia Gvianishvili, director of NGO Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group and Nika Ghviniashvili, manager of NGO LGBT Georgia Resource Centre talk about transgenderness and the issues faced by transgender people in Georgia. What is transgenderness? Natia Gvianishvili: […]
