An international kickboxing and MMA tournament, “Grand Bellagio Championship-2,” was held in Batumi, Azernews reports.
Day: September 16, 2024
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The Daily Beat: 14 September
During the campaign rally in the town of Gori, near the occupation line, the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, pledged to apologize to Ossetians for the 2008 war, further claiming to arrange the “Nuremberg process” for ex-President Saakashvili and his United National Movement party for putting “Ossetian sisters and brothers up in flame.” He also blamed the war on the “external forces,” not mentioning Russia’s responsibility for military invasion and occupation.
Overshadowed by Merab Dvalishvili‘s victory in the UFC bantamweight world championship, Ivanishvili’s controversial comments about intending to apologize to Ossetians for the 2008 war, still sparked public outcry on social networks. On Sunday evening, a few hundred people gathered in front of the parliament to protest against Ivanishvili’s remarks and the “Kremlin’s dictate.”
Commenting on possible Russian meddling in the October parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists that Russia does not have the resources to significantly influence the electoral process. “To influence the elections, you need resources in the media, you need to have your parties, you need to have your agency network in the parties, you need to have media resources. Russia does not have these resources, but other powers do,” PM Kobakhidze said.
Last week, the Communications Commission (ComCom) upheld two complaints the ruling Georgian Dream party filed against opposition-leaning TV stations. In one of the cases, the appeal concerned the refusal of some channels to broadcast the party’s advertisement, which, according to these channels, contains “hate speech” and violates the law. In another case, the appeal concerned the placement of individual political ads by parties currently in coalition with other parties and the allegedly unequal distribution of airtime for free political advertisements.
The Tbilisi City Court has reportedly authorized the Anti-Corruption Bureau to access the personal data – bank account information, of the founders of the newly launched “Vote for Europe” movement and the organization itself. The movement’s lawyer, Kakha Kozhoridze, said on September 13 that the court decision is “absolutely unlawful,” adding that it will be appealed in the Tbilisi Court of Appeals.
Residents of Shukruti village gathered in front of the parliament building to protest damage allegedly caused by Georgian Manganese‘s underground mining. Locals say they never received compensation, accusing the company of forging documents, and demand government action. While the residents of the village accuse the Georgian Manganese of this disaster, the company denies every claim. You can read the story of a months-long protest here.
On September 12, the 121th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism meeting was held in Ergneti (in the vicinity of the Tskhinvali occupation line). The meeting was co-facilitated by the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus, Viorel Moşanu, and the Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), Bettina Patricia Boughani. The meeting comes amid reports of continued illegal “borderization” by the Russian occupation forces.
The Data of the Day
On September 13, the National Statistics Service of Georgia (Geostat) published express data indicating that the external merchandise trade (excluding non-declared trade) of Georgia increased by 3% in January-August 2024 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, amounting to USD 14,703.2 million.
On September 13, the National Statistics Service released the preliminary results of the summary of the demographic situation in Georgia, suggesting negative natural growth in the first half of 2024. According to the data, the number of live births in January- June 2024 was 18,633 persons, while the number of deaths in the same period was 22,265 persons.
