Grigol Vashadze in Akhalkalaki hospital. (Sknews.ge) TBILISI, DFWatch--Four opposition activists were hospitalized Tuesday after supporters of the ruling GD party burst into a local branch office of the UNM in the predominantly ethnic Armenian town Akhalkalaki. Among the attackers were the brother of a member of parliament for GD, UNM claims. One of the [...]
(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Exit poll after Georgia's presidential election on Sunday show dramatically different results and all sides are bracing for a long and fierce standoff to ‘defend votes'. The situation is tense in Tbilisi and the opposition is even talking about launching a wave of protest rallies if the government 'rigs the results'. Three [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch--On Sunday, Georgians go to the polls for the last time to elect a president. Even though the role of the president in recent years is largely ceremonial, the contest has turned into a fierce political showdown. Although the powers of the president have been gradually reduced since the split between Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch--Authorities in the breakaway region South Ossetia have increased the fines for 'illegal crossing of the state border' by two and a half times; from 2,000 (USD 30) to 5,000 Russian rubles (USD 75). This change in the size of fines is one of the reasons for why it took longer time than usual for [...]
Igor Giorgadze. TBILISI, DFWatch--Tbilisi City Court on Tuesday held its second hearing in a lawsuit filed by a former Georgian politician turned Kremlin ally against DFWatch for an article published in 2016. The claimant, Igor Giorgadze, served as Minister of State Security in 1993-1995, until he fled to Russia in the wake of the [...]
Maia Otinashvili (Photo: Goga Aptsiauri, RFE/RL). Several wrestlers and possibly other acting and retired athletes had played a key role in the release of 37 y/o Georgian woman from Tskhinvali prison, the family says, which was confirmed also by Georgia’s State Security Service (SUS). […]
GALI, DFWatch – The loss of sources of income related to the spread of deadly brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), which has devastated locals’ orchards, urges residents of Gali to return to illegal business of smuggling goods, particularly cigarettes, from the breakaway Abkhazia to Georgia proper. […]
Mirza Subeliani. (1tv.ge) TBILISI, DFWatch--A one and a half hour long secret audio recording aired by an opposition TV channel has caused an outcry in Georgia, two weeks ahead of the presidential election. The situation has gone so far that the opposition has started talking about snap elections for parliament. "In the first round [...]
Enguri Bridge. (DFWatch.) TBILISI, DFWatch--The spread of the deadly brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) has caused such devastation of orchards that locals have been forced to return to illegal businesses, such as smuggling of goods, particularly cigarettes, from breakaway Abkhazia to Georgia proper. This illegal trade was rife a decade and half ago but [...]
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 Safarov, a 25 year old employee of a Georgian non-governmental organization (NGO) advocating minority rights, was severely beaten and stabbed several [...]
Maia Otinashvili is being met by relatives and family members at the village of Ergneti. (Sputnik Ossetia.) TBILISI, DFWatch--A Georgian woman released Tuesday by Tskhinvali says he was physically abused when she was apprehended but was treated better during her 10 day long captivity. Maia Otinashvili, a 37 year old mother of three minors, [...]
Speaker of Parliament Irakli Kobakhidze. (Facebook.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Nika Gvaramia, head of the opposition TV channel Rustavi 2, calls the ruling party-backed presidential contender a ‘traitor’. GD party secretary Irakli Kobakhidze responds by calling Gvaramia a ‘fascist’. Kobakhidze, who is the speaker of Georgia's parliament, slammed the Rustavi 2 director Monday morning at a press [...]
The Lugar Center in Tbilisi. (NCDC.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Russia launched new threats and accusation against Georgia on Thursday over a US-funded laboratory in Tbilisi, warning that even ‘military measures’ are not ruled out. The move was ostensibly triggered by a former KGB general who served as Georgia's security chief in the 1990s but fled the [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch--Breakaway authorities in Tskhinvali have released a video supposed to show that a Georgian woman is being treated well in detention. Maia Otinashvili (37) was seized by armed, masked men on September 29 in her orchard in the village Khurvaleti, right on the border to the disputed territory. Meanwhile, the Georgia's Public Defenders states that [...]
(Facebook.) During his work visit to New York last week, President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili spoke with the Voice of America about U.S.-Georgia relations and his views on the Trump Administration’s support for Georgia. Ia Meurmishvili spoke with the President. She anchors Voice of America Georgian Service’s weekly show Washington Today and [...]
Zaza Okuashvili sparked a public outcry by accusing former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili of extortion. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--The owner of the Georgian opposition-leaning TV channel Iberia blames the billionaire and former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili of extorting him for four million dollars. Zaza Okuashvili, who owns one of Georgia’s largest tobacco manufacturing and importing companies, [...]
