Day: January 24, 2024

Following the dramatic eviction of a family from Kekelidze Street in Tbilisi on January 23, the National Bureau of Enforcement has decided to postpone the eviction of another family scheduled for today, January 24, the agency confirmed its decision to Civil.ge.

“Since the family is socially vulnerable and also two minors live in this family, the Bureau gives the parties additional time, several months, to negotiate and settle,” – the agency told Civil.ge, adding that it will also be involved in the matter to resolve the issue.

The eviction was scheduled to begin at 11:00 local time. In anticipation of this, dozens of civil society activists and citizens, as well as media representatives, were mobilized around the house on Tsotne Dadiani Street in the early hours of 24 January. Their plan was to stage a standoff and resistance in case the Enforcement Bureau arrived to support and prevent the eviction.

Following yesterday’s case that resulted in public protest over the eviction, the Social Justice Center (SJC), a local watchdog, called on the Government “to immediately suspend the scheduled evictions this week and in general for the winter period”

The President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has also expressed her disapproval of the fact of eviction of families in winter, stressing that “evicting people in winter and in snowy conditions, damaging their property, insulting their dignity and promoting usurers is unacceptable”.

Also Read:

• 23/01/2024 – Police Physically Assault Journalists During Eviction Standoff, Detain One

On January 24, Transparency International-Georgia, a local watchdog that investigates corruption in the country, revealed that none of at least 531 draft decrees, almost a quarter of which (122 decrees) concerned the transfer of state property to specific entities, considered by the Georgian government in 2023, have been made public. In addition, the government did not publish the agendas of four out of 48 meetings. TI-Georgia stated that it is impossible to obtain this information through the public information request mechanism.

According to the watchdog, this leads to the suspicion that the government is trying to hide problematic decisions. TI-Georgia says that “for more than three years now, the government no longer considers itself accountable to the public and makes decisions behind closed doors,” undermining public trust in the authorities.

TI-Georgia notes that the decrees issued by the government in 2023, concerning the transfer of state property to certain entities or the revision of terms agreed with the state, contain “clear corruption risks.” These suspicions are reinforced by cases of alleged illegal transfers of state property uncovered by investigative journalists in the past, says the watchdog.

TI-Georgia accuses the government of setting a bad example for state institutions and violating several laws, including the Georgian Constitution. TI-Georgia calls on the government to “abandon the harmful practice of concealing the decrees” and to publish all documents in accordance with the law.

Also Read:

• 24/11/2023 – TI – Georgia Reveals Political and Procurement Links of Mining License Holders
• 15/11/2023 – Winemakers Dominate GD Donations, Get Credits, Subsidies – Watchdog
• 03/11/2023 – TI-Georgia: Problem of High Level Corruption Remains Severe
• 17/08/2023 – TI Georgia: Almost Half of Political Donations Went to Lelo for Georgia