(DFWatch.) TBILISI, DFWatch--A group of teenagers from Gali district are stuck on the breakaway Abkhazia side of Enguri bridge after Sokhumi closed the sole passage in the wake of anti-Russian, anti-government rallies in Tbilisi. The students are trying to get to Georgia proper in order to take part in the Unified National Entrance Exams, [...]
Akaki Bobokhidze pouring water on members of the Russian delegation in the parliament of Georgia on June 20. (RFE/RL) TBILISI, DFWatch--Members of the separatist parliament in Sokhumi are demanding criminal action against Georgian MP Akaki Bobokhidze for an angry outburst during a brawl last week during an inter-parliamentary assembly. Bobokhidze, who represents European Georgia, [...]
Sergey Gavrilov was rushed to Tbilisi airport. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--A Russian parliament member was evacuated from the Radisson Blue hotel in Tbilisi after a group of opposition protesters confronted him Thursday evening. Sergey Gavrilov, a member of Russia's Communist Party, and his colleagues were rushed from the hotel to Tbilisi airport, Georgian media reports. [...]
Levan Vasadze warned that vigilante patrols will assemble 'if needed' and prevent Georgia's first Pride parade from going ahead. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--After much deliberation, the organizers of Tbilisi Pride have decided to go ahead with the first Pride parade in Georgia, according to a statement released on Facebook Tuesday. "Despite existing risks, the first [...]
"The United States will continue to urge Georgian authorities to protect all citizens regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity," US Department of State spokesperson has said commenting recent developments in Georgia relating to Tbilisi Pride. The text of short statement was provided by Voice of America's Georgian Service. "The United States is deeply concerned about [...]
Avtandil Mammadov holding poster “Freedom to Afgan Mukhtarli” in Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Av. (Facebook) The police in Georgia detained Azerbaijan’s opposition activist Avtandil Mammadov on the request of Baku on Monday and he may face extradition to his home country. Mammadov was arrested in Marneuli, a town inhabited largely by ethnic Azerbaijanis, 35 km east [...]
Levan Vasadze (center) addressing his supporters at the rally. (IPN) TBILISI, DFWatch--An ultra-conservative Georgian millionaire vows to set up vigilante patrols on the streets of Tbilisi to prevent LGBT rights activists from holding a planned pride march. "We'll establish people's squadrons. [...] Among the crowd gathered here there are a lot of individuals with [...]
Levan Vasadze speaking at the counter rally. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--At least nine people were detained by police in Tbilisi at as defenders of LGBT rights clashed with conservatives on Friday. The police had to set up barriers between the two groups of protesters in order to avoid a physical confrontation. The LGBT activists gathered [...]
(Camille Millerand/OFPRA.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Authorities in France are concerned over a sharp increase in asylum requests by Georgian and Albanian citizens, according to the influential French daily newspaper Le Figaro. The paper based its report on information from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA). In the first four months [...]
Journalist Egor Kuroptev speaking at the rally. (Sova.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Journalists and civic activists gathered in front of Russia’s diplomatic representation in Tbilisi on Saturday to protest the prosecution of Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov. "Even though we are not in Russia, but in Georgia, we decided that we can and must do something[...] The [...]
The opposition People's Party more than doubled its support to 22% since 2014, when it got 9.5%. (cominf.org) TBILISI, DFWatch--The ruling party in breakaway South Ossetia looked set to win the elections for de facto parliament with 35 percent of votes after 95 percent of votes had been counted Monday evening. But United Ossetia’s [...]
Aslan Bzhania fell ill in April. TBILISI, DFWatch--Abkhazia’s breakaway authorities claim opposition leader Aslan Bzhania's sudden illness is due to ordinary food intoxication, not deliberate poisoning. Sokhumi thus rejects conclusions by a laboratory in Munich, which found earlier that samples from the leading opposition contender contained high levels of lead and cadmium. De facto [...]
High Council of Justice. (hcoj.gov.ge) A group of independent lawyers and legal experts has submitted a draft resolution in the parliament of Georgia in which they ask for condemnation of what they dub as "clan-based" management of the country's judiciary. "Through a special decree, the Parliament should create a commission to probe the state [...]
From an LGBTQ rally in Tbilisi in 2017. (Rustavi 2.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Gay rights activists in Georgia are defying threats from conservative groups and lack of police protection as organizers opt for a street rally during Tbilisi Pride. The rally is scheduled for the concluding day of Tbilisi Pride, despite continuous threats by radical groups [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch--Civil society organizations in Georgia are concerned over the police stance toward the Tbilisi Pride event in two weeks’ time and call upon law enforcers to “take adequate measures to secure security of participants in peaceful assembly”. “It’s the State's obligation to ensure timely and adequate protection [of Tbilisi Pride participants] from possible violence,” the [...]
