Friday, July 20, 2007, #137 (1404)

Press Scanner
Prepared By Ana Datiashvili

Black Sea Water Undergoes Disease Testing
Sakartvelos Respublika reports that the government has formed a group to test the water in the Black Sea twice a week to help prevent disease in Adjara.
Adjaran Minister of Health Mamuka Nakashidze stated that the group was created to test seawater near Batumi, Khelvachauri and Kobuleti. Drinking water will be tested three times a week.
“We’re working to make sure that drinking water and seawater are safe in places where tourism is popular,” said Nakashidze.
Nakashidze states that areas frequented by tourists will soon be under control.

Reconstruction Begins on Historical Wedding House in Sighnaghi
Reconstruction work has begun on an historical wedding house in the center of Sighnaghi, Sakartvelos Respublika reports.
According to the Ministry of Justice, this building’s restoration is part of a larger Sighnaghi development project.
The Sighnaghi wedding house was built in the first half of the 19th century and was designated a historical building in 1978.
According to Sighnaghi regional officials, the wedding house will be an official location in which couples can get married.

An Open Letter to Saakashili
Rezonansi recently published a letter by Georgian journalists to President Mikheil Saakashvili.
“In 1997, and later, you had many opponents who considered that it was unacceptable to put cameras in court rooms, and were defending their positions in the same way that we hear now from majority MPs.
We journalists have the same arguments that you had ten years ago, that open court processes are an indivisible part of a just court, that society’s faith in the court depends on how these people will get the information, not with the help of journalists, or officials but with first sources, that society should be direct witness and not indifferent overseers.
In the history of an independent court the parliamentarians name only three instances where the court became a field for political agitation. It is important to mention that in those instances, the disturbances happened not because of cameras, but because the court didn’t pass the right sentence.
We ask you to defend your achievement and veto the changes in the law “About General Courts.” With this step you will prove your devotion to democratic principles.

Nino Zuriashvili—studio Monitori
Ia Antadze
Eliso Chapidze—newspaper Rezonansi
Keti Khatiashvili—newspaper Alia
Nana Biganishvili—studio Monitori
Magda Memanishvili—studio Monitori
Aleksandre Kvatashidze—studio Monitori
Lasha Tughushi—newspaper Rezonansi
Beso Maminaishvili—newspaper Rezonansi



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