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The News in Brief

Thursday, August 13
Widow of ex-President of Chechnya sends letter to Georgian people

Ala Dudaeva, widow of former Chechen leader Djokhar Dudaev, has sent an open letter to the Georgian people. She says therein that her main purpose in writing it is to strengthen Georgian-Chechen relations, which were once again fractured by the Kremlin last August.

“Georgian citizens, and especially Georgian soldiers, will remember seeing the words ‘Chechnya’, ‘North’, and ‘Yamadaev’ written on Russian tanks for a long time. You should know that those people who put them there are betrayers of our country, and while serving the Russian occupiers they are trying to bury Georgians’ as well as Chechens’ thirst for freedom. Genuine Chechens are still fighting in the mountains against the Russian occupiers,” Ala Dudaeva writes. (Rustavi 2)



Dutch cameraman killed in August war commemorated in Gori

On Wednesday colleagues commemorated the Dutch cameraman killed in the August war. Foreign and Georgian journalists assembled in the centre of Gori, where five people, including the cameraman, died in a cluster bomb blast on August 1, 2009. They were commemorated with a minute’s silence and the site of the blast was symbolically decorated with flowers.

Stan Storiman’s family intends to bring a lawsuit against the Russian Federation at the international court for causing the cameraman’s death. Dutch filmmakers have started to make a documentary about his death. (Rustavi 2)



Order of Honour awarded to family of young man killed in war

The Georgian Minister for Economic Development visited Gori on Wednesday. Lasha Zhvania bestowed the Order of Honour on the family of Moris Papuashvili, 22, who was killed in the August war.

Papuashvili worked for United Telecom. He refused to give up his job even during the war and together with his workmates protected the Gori TV tower which helped maintain TV connection between Gori and the rest of Georgia. The young man was shot deliberately by Russian occupiers.

By order of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, gratitude has been expressed to Moris Papuashvili’s family for his bravery and devotion during the war and the Order of Honour has been bestowed. (Rustavi 2)



New Probation Bureau office opens in Kakheti

A new Probation Bureau office opened on Givi Chokheli Street in Telavi in the Kakheti region yesterday. The opening of the bureau was attended by the Deputy Minister of Penitentiary, Probation and Legal Aid Koka Seperteladze.

The Kakheti office is the seventh, after those in Tbilisi, Mtskheta-Mtianieti, Kvemo Kartli, Achara, Imereti and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, to be rehabilitated at short notice and equipped with modern technology. All regional bureaux of the probation service will meet modern standards by the end of the year. (Interpressnews)



Poti Public Healthcare Centre adopts intensified regime

The Poti Public Healthcare Centre is now working flat out due to the cases of H1N1 virus in Georgia. Director of the centre Leila Kasradze stated that they get information about the H1N1 situation in the city daily from the medical institutions in Poti and send it to a central office at the end of the week.

“The incubation period of the H1N1 virus is very short; but we can decrease the probability of the virus entering via ship. The quarantine service carries out the necessary measures in the port,” Leila Kasradze stated. (Interpressnews)



Storm damage assessed

The damage caused by the strong wind and rain in Poti on 9 August has been assessed.

Poti Deputy Mayor Lela Sharukhia has told Interpressnews that a commission has concluded that 31 families have been left without roofs and suffered damage worth GEL 11,685.

“All the families damaged by the elements have been registered. There are 31 such families. They will be provided with monetary aid,” Sharukhia stated. The sums will be allotted from the Poti Mayor’s Reserve Fund. (Interpressnews)



Foreign journalists detained in Sokhumi interrogated

Foreign journalists detained in Sokhumi have been interrogated by the so-called Security Service of Abkhazia. It is reported that one of the detainees is from Italy.

Of the five foreign journalists arrested, four entered the Abkhaz territory on behalf of NGOs on tourist visas about a week ago. They had applied for the visas via the internet. The fifth journalist, Alessandro Orlando, is believed to leave Abkhazia on Tuesday.

The foreign journalists were detained by order of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation for carrying out a survey among locals and taking photos. (Rustavi 2)