Preparatory work has begun on the construction of water supply and wastewater systems for the villages of Aghali and Mammadbayli in Azerbaijan’s Zangilan district, Azernews reports.
Day: August 7, 2025
Irakli Kurashvili has been appointed as Georgia’s new ambassador to France, filling a post that had remained vacant since former Ambassador Gocha Javakhishvili resigned last May in protest over the reintroduction of the foreign agents law.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry announced the news about the appointment on August 7.
Kurashvili, a seasoned career diplomat, had served as Georgia’s ambassador to Latvia since 2023. From 2022 to 2023, he led the (later abolished) Directorate General for European Integration. He was also Georgia’s ambassador to Argentina from 2018 to 2022, concurrently accredited to Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Between 2012 and 2017, he served as ambassador to Switzerland and was also accredited to Liechtenstein.
Gotcha Javakhishvili, Kurashvili’s predecessor in the post, announced his resignation on May 9, 2024, in response to the reintroduction of the foreign agents law. The diplomat said at the time that the bill’s reintroduction created an atmosphere between Georgia and its [Western] friends that made his job “extremely difficult.”
Kurashvili’s appointment also follows a major reorganization at the Foreign Ministry, including structural changes to the EU and NATO directorates and the reported dismissal of dozens of staff from both the central office and diplomatic service — a move critics have described as a purge of employees critical of Georgian Dream.
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US State Department on political persecution in Georgia
“We are deeply concerned by the targeted prosecution of individuals who criticise the actions of the Georgian government,” the US State Department said in response to a question from the Georgian outlet Formula regarding the two-year prison sentence handed down to journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli.
“We are deeply troubled by the ongoing and intensifying anti-democratic developments in Georgia, including the detention of political opposition figures and the targeted harassment of civil society — particularly those critical of the government.
We are seriously alarmed by Georgia’s selective use of recently adopted legislation, including amendments to the Law on Grants, against actual or perceived critics of the government. This unjustifiably restricts freedom of expression and the functioning of civil society,” the State Department added.
Journalist and founder of the independent outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti, Mzia Amaghlobeli, was sentenced to two years in prison by Batumi City Court judge Nino Sakhelashvili for slapping the head of Batumi police.
Amaghlobeli was initially charged with assaulting a police officer under an article that carries a sentence of four to seven years’ imprisonment. However, on the day of the verdict, the judge reclassified the charge to resisting a police officer — a lesser offence punishable by a fine, house arrest of up to two years, or a prison sentence of two to six years.
Ultimately, Amaghlobeli was sentenced to two years in prison. Judge Nino Sakhelashvili, who is listed on Western sanctions lists, took only a few minutes to announce the verdict and left the courtroom immediately afterward.
US State Department on political persecution in Georgia
News from Georgia