Monthly Archives: January 2019

Abkhazia may block people from leaving to seek medical treatment because it undermines the breakaway region’s ‘statehood’

By | January 28th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: , |

Temur Nadaraia. GALI, DFWatch--Sokhumi ponders prohibiting Abkhazians from travelling to Georgia proper for medical treatment and in search of other opportunities, because these developments undermine the breakaway region’s 'statehood'. "Those Abkhazians who go to Georgia and receive Georgian citizenship in exchange for loans or other social benefits are actually betraying their nation. I hope [...]

UK fugitive surrenders to police in Tbilisi, Georgia

By | January 24th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: , |

Screenshot from the interview Jack Shepherd gave to Georgian TV station Rustavi 2, in which he said he was framed by the media. TBILISI, DFWatch--Jack Shepherd, 31, a UK national who was sentenced to six years in jail last July for the unintentional killing of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown, surrendered to police in Tbilisi, Georgia [...]

20 students may fail exams due to Abakhazia’s flu quarantine

By | January 23rd, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: , |

(apsadgil.info) TBILISI, DFWatch--Due to the closure of the Enguri checkpoint, students from breakaway Abkhazia's Gali district are unable pass their exams, which may result in their expulsion from the university. The problems come on the heel of a quarantine declared in early January by Georgia’s two breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia in order [...]

South Ossetia cut off from Russia as personnel unable to clear road of snow for a week

By | January 21st, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--The only road that connects South Ossetia to Russia was still blocked Monday after being closed for traffic seven days ago due to heavy snowfall and avalanches. Personnal dispatched by Tskhinvali has been trying to clear the road throughout the weekend and even carried out several controled explosions to try to trigger [...]

Two gas inspectors in KazTransGaz detained for failing to act on gas leak warning before deadly explosion

By | January 19th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

Four people were killed in the explosion in an apartment block in the Tbilisi district Didi Dighomi. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--The police on Friday detained two people in relation to the deadly gas explosion in Tbilisi which claimed the lives of four, including a 4 year old boy, his mother and an aunt. The two [...]

Georgian civic groups suspect government is behind smear campaign on Facebook

By | January 17th, 2019|Categories: NGO news|Tags: , |

Eka Gigauri. (Facebook.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia's largest NGOs suspect that the government is masterminding a smear campaign against them using internet trolls. "These dull caricatures with their Facebook pages have been created specifically to target us. Since the election campaign, up to 20 such pages have been created," Eka Gigauri, head of Transparency International Georgia, [...]

Four people killed as gas explosion rocks apartment block in Tbilisi

By | January 17th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch--Four people were killed and seven people injured when an explosion rocked a block of apartments in uptown Tbilisi Wednesday evening. Among the injured is one child, whose condition is serious, health minister Davit Sergeenko said. The explosion is thought to have been caused by a natural gas leak in a flat in Didi Dighomi, [...]

Abkhazia, South Ossetia declare quarantine to limit spread of flu virus

By | January 12th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: , , |

Razdakhan checkpoint in the Akhalgori district. (DFWatch.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia's two breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on Friday declared a quarantine in order to prevent the spread of the influenza virus H1N1 from Georgia proper. The quarantine will last for two months and not 20 days, as previously reported. In practice, a quarantine [...]

Flu death count reaches 13 in Georgia

By | January 11th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: , |

Minister of Health Davit Sergeenko. (1tv.ge) TBILISI, DFWatch--13 people have died from flu in Georgia since the start of this flu season, the country’s health minister said on Thursday. The number of hospitalizations due to influenza diagnosis has increased to 845 from the previous 616. 44 patients are intensive care at different hospitals throughout [...]

Abkhazia considers 20 day quarantine to stem flu epidemic, locals say real reason is shortage of medicines

By | January 11th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

GALI, DFWatch--Sokhumi plans to announce a 20 day quarantine and close Enguri checkpoint,  the sole passage between Georgia proper and breakaway Abkhazia, locals familiar with the situation told DFWatch. Although breakaway officials claim no instances of H1N1 influenza virus have been reported so far in Abkhazia, DFWatch has witnessed at least dozens of instances of flu [...]

Georgia’s largest bank under investigation for money laundering, opposition claims political motive

By | January 10th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

Mamuka Khazaradze, chairman of the supervisory board of TBC Bank, was questioned by the chief prosecutor's office. (1tv.ge) TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor's Office (POG) has launched a criminal investigation of the country’s largest bank for alleged money laundering. The opposition calls the case an attack on unwanted business institutions. On Wednesday, POG summoned and [...]

At least 10 have died of flu in Georgia this winter

By | January 8th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

NCDC director Amiran Gamkrelidze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--At least 10 people have died in Georgia the last few weeks due to complications after contracting with the flu, health officials have said. The National Center for Disease Control and Public Health cited data showing that the seasonal epidemic is on decline, but there has been a [...]

New Akhalgori travel restrictions delayed for one month

By | January 6th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

Razdakhan checkpoint. (DFwatch.) AKHALGORI, DFWatch--South Ossetia has postponed for a month the coming into force of a new regulation which makes it harder for Akhalgori residents to cross the de facto border. On December 26, Tskhinvali adopted a new regulation which makes it much harder to cross the de facto border between Akhalgori and [...]

Record traffic across Enguri bridge on New Year’s Eve

By | January 2nd, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: |

(Archive photo by DFWatch.) GALI, DFWatch--A record number of people crossed Enguri bridge on New Year's Eve this year - in both directions. The queue spanned almost the entire length of the 1km long bridge which connects territory controlled by Georgia's central government and breakaway Abkhazia. "No one has seen such a thing here. [...]