Day: October 3, 2023

Italy has allocated 4 million euros to address the rapid increase in humanitarian needs in Nagorno Karabakh and to support the tens of thousands of people who have abandoned their homes to reach Armenia.

In coordination and in agreement with the Vice President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Antonio Tajani, Deputy Minister Edmondo Cirielli has arranged a contribution of 4 million euros in favor of the Red Cross for urgent interventions in favor of the people most affected by the crisis.

The Center for Applied Nonviolent Actions and Strategies (CANVAS), a Serbian non-governmental organization, strongly denied the allegations of the Georgian security services that it was fomenting violent unrest in Georgia.

In an official statement, CANVAS said all of its programs and trainings, taught in over 50 countries, are based on the non-violent struggle curriculum that is publicly available online.

The statement reads that the State Security Service of Georgia “decided to create a national controversy out of nothing” since the content of the training course was previously known, held at a public location, and aimed “to support civil society organizations in Georgia to better equip them with tools and knowledge on community organization and advocating for positive social changes.”

The statement further says “no legal documents presenting an investigation” were given to the three CANVAS trainers that were interrogated on September 29, and neither could they make a statement since they were bound by non-disclosure rules.

The organization says the recent statements by SSSG are part of a “larger smear campaign that Georgian security agencies are conducting against civil society in Georgia and the CANVAS staff in Tbilisi” and links them “with successful civic campaign carried out in Tbilisi from February to March of 2023 against the so-called “Russian Law.”

The organization called on Georgia’s international partners “to take note” of these developments and to communicate about their inadmissibility to the Georgian officials while pledging to continue  to “support Georgian civil society organizations and the people of Georgia to secure the future they determine and deserve.”

Šikman: accusations “make no sense”

Siniša Šikman, one of the CANVAS trainers who was interrogated by the Georgian security service, told the Voice of America (VoA), “The worst thing in this accusations is that allegedly we are trying to foment some kind of violence in Georgia. This makes no sense. From the times of our struggle against [Yugoslav/Serbian strongmen Slobodan] Milošević, our key principle was that of non-violence.”

The activist says the Georgian security officers in their presentation “pulled out context some of the more dramatic depictions of our personal struggle” against Milošević. “They are not worried that we are going to kick the British out of Georgia simply because we also mentioned the example of the Boston Tea Party, are they?” asked Šikman, ironically.

He also recalled that he was being interviewed by security officials for six-and-a-half hours and his two colleagues for a slightly shorter period of time. According to Šikman, Geogian officers presented no official charges and gave no formal instructions. They were able to depart Tbilisi on a scheduled flight the next morning.

“Whatever the charges are, I am not concerned because these are lies,” Šikman told VoA, adding that the video materials “are pulled out of context and edited in a biased fashion, and I can prove that.”

Read Also:

• 02/10/23 – Security Service Says USAID-funded Trainers were Plotting to Foment Unrest in Georgia
• 02/10/23 – GD Leadership Doubles Down on Security Service Claims of “Plot”

Security agency claims that it had uncovered a cunning plot of the USAID-funded trainers attempting to foment an uprising in Georgia. According to the Security Service statement, three Serbian trainers participating in a USAID-funded program were actively recruiting activists to orchestrate the violent overthrow of Georgia’s elected government. The Security Service also noted that Serbian trainers are affiliated with CANVAS – Center for Applied Non-Violent Actions and Strategies.

Georgian Dream leadership, including the Prime Minister, fully backed the Security Service’s anti-Western claims, saying these allegations “fully align” with previous disclosures, exposing the plans and intentions of destructive, hostile, and anti-national forces. According to PM Garibashvili, it has become clear that “foreign countries are actively involved” in these “revolutionary” activities with the arrival of citizens from abroad to conduct training sessions.

The US Embassy in Tbilisi reacted to the State Security Service’s statement, saying that the allegations against one of the embassy’s assistance projects are false, fundamentally mischaracterizing the goals of the US assistance to Georgia. “As always, our assistance is transparent, and we welcome any opportunities to discuss any concerns the government may have,” reads the embassy statement.

Opposition MPs also dismissed the Security Service’s statement, describing it as an attempt to cover up the story of FSB-linked Otar Partskhaladze and distract public attention from other important matters. Some opposition MPs believe that the State Security Service tries to intimidate citizens in the old USSR-style by exposing “new enemies and threats.” Civil.ge has compiled reactions of the opposition MPs to the security service’s statement.

The Russian Federation Council’s Committee on Foreign Affairs Chair, Grigory Karasin, verbally insulted Georgia’s President, Salome Zurabishvili, saying she suffers from “political schizophrenia.” Russian official, who is also in charge of informal talks with the Georgian government, was commenting on President Zurabishvili’s interview with the Lithuanian Public Broadcaster on September 29, where she said: “If Russia is not halted in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s next move could target the Baltic states or Georgia.”

Transparency International-Georgia (TI-Georgia), a local watchdog, reported on the state of the TV advertising market. The Report by TI-Georgia revealed that the annual trend of growth in advertising revenues of TV broadcasters, dominant since 2019, was reversed in 2022. According to the TI-Georgia report, in 2022, the total advertising revenue of TV and radio broadcasters decreased by 7.6% compared to the previous year of 2021, amounting to GEL 79.9 million. The report notes that advertising forms 67.5% of the total revenue of the broadcasters.

The Human Rights Center issued the report on the Human Rights Situation alongside the occupation line of the Tskhinvali Region, outlining human rights violations committed by Russia’s occupying regime from April 2023 to September 2023. These violations include illegal borderization, restricted access to natural resources for locals, violation of property rights, and deteriorated social-economic situation caused by the occupation. The report also contains recommendations for improving the socio-economic and human rights situation in the villages adjacent to the occupation line.