A preliminary hearing has commenced in the criminal case against Karen Avanesyan, who is accused of committing terrorism and other particularly serious crimes in the city of Khankendi, Azernews reports.
Day: December 11, 2025
Engage Armenia Reached Its 7th Country in Two Years Meeting Diaspora Where They Live The Armenian Mirror-Spectator
Azerbaijan-Armenia rail link
Azerbaijani outlet Minval Politika has published an article claiming that a previous report by the publication forced the Georgian government to allow a one-off transit of Azerbaijani petroleum products to Armenia free of charge.
“However, such a one-off decision does not answer the main question: what is Tbilisi’s actual position on long-term tariffs and customs duties?” the article says.
The publication, citing a source familiar with ongoing talks between Baku and Yerevan, notes that Azerbaijan has already begun assessing its options for creating an alternative logistics route. This would involve restoring the railway line that connected Baku with Kazakhstan during the Soviet period and later extended towards Ijevan in Armenia.
According to Minval Politika, the evaluation of alternative routes has already begun, and the technical aspects of restoring the section that would “free” transit cargo from reliance on Georgia have been studied.
At the same time, the outlet reports that road routes are also being considered. Minval Politika suggests that the very fact such discussions are taking place indicates that Azerbaijan no longer views transit through Georgia as the sole or inevitable route.
“Today, Tbilisi faces a simple choice: either integrate into a new model of regional cooperation or watch the development of routes where Georgia’s presence will no longer be necessary,” the publication writes.
Background
On 5 December 2025, Azerbaijani media reported on a meeting between the authorities of Azerbaijan and Armenia held on 28 November. According to sources, the main topic of discussion was the export of Azerbaijani oil and petroleum products to Armenia, which could bring economic benefits to both Baku and Yerevan. Due to the lack of direct railway connections between the two countries, transit through Georgia was considered the only way to carry out the deal.
The publication reported that Azerbaijan requested transit tariffs from Tbilisi, to which the Georgian side responded with a rate 20 times higher than the current one. Azerbaijani media argued that, at a time when the South Caucasus has a unique opportunity to shift from a logic of conflict to a logic of development, Tbilisi’s actions represented an attempt to prolong this transitional period.
“All of this undermines the overall momentum of regional peacemaking and demonstrates an unwillingness to participate in creating a space for shared prosperity,” wrote the article’s author, Maksud Salimov.
Georgia’s Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development commented on reports in Azerbaijani media that Georgian tariffs were hindering railway fuel deliveries from Azerbaijan to Armenia. The ministry said it had received a request from the neighbouring countries for a one-off import of fuel from Azerbaijan to Armenia, which Georgia will carry out completely free of charge.
Last week, another pro-government Azerbaijani outlet, Caliber, published an article in which author Samir Veliev, drawing on accounts from drivers, described how the Georgian side’s treatment of Azerbaijani drivers at the border has changed recently.
According to the author, drivers have faced rude behaviour and disregard for the law—they are sometimes held at the border for several days. Some drivers even recalled being mockingly asked, “When will the Zangezur corridor open?” and being told to take that route instead.
The article suggests that these changes in Tbilisi’s policy may be linked to the “northern neighbour” or to “those representing Armenian interests” within the Georgian government.
Azerbaijan-Armenia rail link
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on December 11 that Georgia violated three rights during the violent dispersal of the June 20-21, 2019, protests in Tbilisi, known as “Gavrilov’s Night.”
In a unanimous judgement, the Court found Georgia in violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment, for 24 of the 26 applicants. It also found breaches of Article 10, protecting freedom of expression, for 14 applicants, and Article 11, on freedom of assembly, for 11 applicants. The Court found no violation of Article 38, which concerns a state’s obligation to cooperate with the Court
Five applications – Berikashvili v. Georgia, Kurdovanidze and others v. Georgia, Baghashvili and others v. Georgia, Svanadze v. Georgia, and Tsaava and Kmuzov v. Georgia – were filed with the ECtHR by 26 activists and journalists.
The cases stemmed from protests that erupted after Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov addressed an Inter-parliamentary Assembly from the Georgian Parliament Speaker’s chair, triggering outrage and a night of brutal dispersal on Rustaveli Avenue.
The Court criticized both the operation and the subsequent investigation, saying, “Although the ensuing investigation had already lasted for more than five and a half years, it had not yet resulted in a comprehensive assessment of all the relevant circumstances, nor led to findings or charges in relation to the applicants’ ill-treatment or the identities of the State agents who had used – or ordered the use of – allegedly excessive force agains them,” the court said. “It could not, therefore, be regarded as effective.”
It also said there was “simply no evidence” that the injuries sustained by any of the applicants had been “inevitable consequence of their own conduct,” as the Court noted significant shortcomings in Georgia’s legal framework regulating rubber bullet use and in the manner the demonstration was dispersed.
Journalists, the Court said, were also prevented from covering the events safely, and protesters faced “an unjustified degree of force.”
The Court ordered Georgia to pay two applicants EUR 75,000 each and two others EUR 85,000 in pecuniary damages, awarded all applicants various amounts for non-pecuniary damage, and ordered EUR 38,414 jointly to 22 applicants for costs and expenses.
The ruling follows a May 7 judgment, in which the Court found Georgia failed to conduct an effective investigation into the crackdown. Authorities later in July revived investigative actions, and on November 12, charged former Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia with abuse of power connected to the events. The Tbilisi City Court ordered his detention in absentia the next day.
Responding to the Grand Chamber ruling, the Justice Ministry said it had reviewed the Interior Ministry’s planning and execution of the 2019 operation and that the renewed inquiry had led to criminal proceedings against Gakharia. The investigation, it added, remains ongoing.
Gakharia, now an opposition For Georgia party leader, is in exile after prosecutors opened the investigations. He denied any wrongdoing and previously defended his actions before a temporary parliamentary investigative commission chaired by Tea Tsulukiani.
Also Read:
- 14/11/2025 – Gakharia, in Exile, Joins Berlin’s Hertie School as Fellow
- 28/12/2023 – Interior Ministry Ordered to Pay Damages and Monthly Allowance to June 20 Protesters
- 12/11/2019 – Prosecutor’s Office Grants Victim Status to Three Persons Injured in June 20-21 Dispersal
- 28/10/2019 – Court Refuses to Grant Victim Status to People Injured in June 20-21 Dispersal
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