In its last plenary session, the Parliament adopted the anti-LGBT legislative package in its third hearing with 84 votes in favor and 0 against. The package consists of a core bill “On Protection of Family Values and Minors” and 18 related amendments to various laws of Georgia. The Majority of opposition MPs did not attend the plenary session as they are boycotting parliamentary work following the adoption of the Law on Foreign Agents.
During the same session, the Parliament passed the “Amnesty Law” with 84 votes in favor and 0 against. The amnesty law approved a month before the crucial parliamentary elections, envisages granting pardons to prisoners who committed crimes before July 1, 2024, and were convicted under more than 200 articles. The amnesty will not apply to individuals convicted of murder, drug dealing, sexual crimes, terrorism corruption, and other severe offences.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze met with U.S. Ambassador Robin Dunnigan at the state chancery in connection with the imposition of U.S. sanctions and travel bans on Georgian citizens. “With this decision, the U.S. side has reached a critical point, which, if another similar decision is made, could lead to a qualitative revision of Georgia’s position regarding Georgian-U.S. relations,” PM Kobakhidze told Ambassador Dunnigan, according to the official press release.
During his visit to Georgia, Michael Roth, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of German Bundestag, gave an extensive interview to Civil.ge, speaking of the recent developments in Georgia and the region, the upcoming parliamentary elections, and the country’s European path. “The upcoming elections are the most important ones in the history of the free and independent Georgia… This is the choice of the people and the choice is crystal clear: a European Georgia or an isolated Georgia,” said Roth in an interview with Civil.ge.
Arsen Kharatyan, Armenian journalist, the founder and editor-in-chief of an independent non-profit bilingual Georgian-Armenia media platform Aliq Media based in Tbilisi, and the former advisor to the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, was denied entry to Georgia on September 17, he was held up for 4 hours and forced to go back to Europe with no explanation.
On September 16, Andrei Mialeshka, a Belarusian journalist living in Georgia, was also denied entry to the country after returning from Poland. The journalist posted the information on Facebook. He was denied entry to the country under the clause, officially stated as “other cases envisaged by Georgian legislation,” an official pretext that has been used in other such cases in the past. According to the journalist, he and his daughter were “locked in a room, their passports were taken away.”
Another Georgian fighter, Giorgi Roinishvili, deputy chief of the Georgian Warriors-Special Unit, was killed in Kursk, Russia while fighting on the Ukrainian side. The Unit reported this on September 17, and the Georgian Foreign Ministry confirmed it to Civil.ge. This latest casualty brings the unofficial death toll of Georgian fighters to 57 since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Transparency International Georgia published its report entitled “How do the big winemakers who donate to Georgian Dream benefit from the state budget?” The paper reveals that the winemakers who receive large amounts of state subsidies are the ones who donate large sums of money to the ruling Georgian Dream party and benefit from the increased dependence of Georgian wine on the Russian market.