Press Scanner
Compiled by Sopo Datishvili
Wednesday, July 8
Alliance for Georgia wants to help rewrite Constitution
24 Saati reports that leader of Alliance for Georgia Irakli Alasania wishes to cooperate with the Constitutional Commission. “We will define the form of our cooperation after we see that they are interested in our suggestions”, Alasania stated.
Another Alliance leader, Davit Usupashvili, also talked about the changes the State Constitutional Commission should make. “In the present conditions, no matter how good a model constitution Parliament accepts, it won’t be a constitution. It will remain at the most a well prepared document,” Usupashvili mentioned.
The only political member of the Constitutional Commission, Vakhtang Khmaladze, says that the drafts of constitutional changes will be disseminated among the parties and civil organisations interested in constitutional issues and human rights first of all. The Commission plans to finish its work by September.
“The Rose Revolution model no longer applies,” says Guguli Magradze
Sakartvelos Respublika has interviewed the leader of the Women’s Party, Guguli Magradze, who thinks that political activity will increase in September and the opposition will achieve particular results which will make the Government seriously compromise.
“The first tactic of the opposition was to destabilise the Government through protest rallies, and if these succeeded even forcing it to resign. I think political protests were not capable of achieving this, but the opposition has managed to shake the foundations of the Government.
“Most opposition representatives think that they should be more radical, but some think they should remain non-radical. Radicalism alone isn’t the way to success however. There should be other activities in politics as well. Radicalism isn’t the aim but a means to an end and should be adopted only when vitally necessary.
“Of course financing is necessary for everyone but today we all are aware that the Rose Revolution model no longer applies and foreign money won’t help. Unlike the Shevardnadze Government, this Government has experience of organising revolutions, as it did in 2003. They know how this mechanism works. Today the opposition should use the fact that the people cannot bear this regime any more to remove it.
“How cleverly the opposition can lead the people in a new direction we will see in September, when political activity will be renewed and the Government will have to compromise,” Guguli Magradze said.
Before the visit of Joe Biden all political prisoners should be released
Sakartvelos Respublika reports that at the office of the Ombudsman on July 6 the NGO Law for People presented concerning data about the number of political prisoners in Georgia, which is almost a hundred already. The NGO held its meeting with the families of political prisoners in the Ombudsman’s office to coincide with the US President’s visit to Russia.
Head of Law for People Zaqaria Kutsnashvili said: “We say that the number of people being pursued and imprisoned for their political views in Georgia is now extremely big. Before the April 9 rallies there were 30 political prisoners, today this number has trebled and 92 such people are now imprisoned under various criminal and administrative laws. Therefore we have started fighting against this alongside society and political parties.”
Law for People has asked international organisations and foreign Governments, in particular the US administration, to help them save the people from the dictatorial regime. It demands the release all the political prisoners before the visit of US Vice President Joe Biden to Georgia. Most of the political prisoners currently detained were arrested due to their participation in the protest rallies. In most cases however they were accused of using drugs or carrying weapons illegally.
24 Saati reports that leader of Alliance for Georgia Irakli Alasania wishes to cooperate with the Constitutional Commission. “We will define the form of our cooperation after we see that they are interested in our suggestions”, Alasania stated.
Another Alliance leader, Davit Usupashvili, also talked about the changes the State Constitutional Commission should make. “In the present conditions, no matter how good a model constitution Parliament accepts, it won’t be a constitution. It will remain at the most a well prepared document,” Usupashvili mentioned.
The only political member of the Constitutional Commission, Vakhtang Khmaladze, says that the drafts of constitutional changes will be disseminated among the parties and civil organisations interested in constitutional issues and human rights first of all. The Commission plans to finish its work by September.
“The Rose Revolution model no longer applies,” says Guguli Magradze
Sakartvelos Respublika has interviewed the leader of the Women’s Party, Guguli Magradze, who thinks that political activity will increase in September and the opposition will achieve particular results which will make the Government seriously compromise.
“The first tactic of the opposition was to destabilise the Government through protest rallies, and if these succeeded even forcing it to resign. I think political protests were not capable of achieving this, but the opposition has managed to shake the foundations of the Government.
“Most opposition representatives think that they should be more radical, but some think they should remain non-radical. Radicalism alone isn’t the way to success however. There should be other activities in politics as well. Radicalism isn’t the aim but a means to an end and should be adopted only when vitally necessary.
“Of course financing is necessary for everyone but today we all are aware that the Rose Revolution model no longer applies and foreign money won’t help. Unlike the Shevardnadze Government, this Government has experience of organising revolutions, as it did in 2003. They know how this mechanism works. Today the opposition should use the fact that the people cannot bear this regime any more to remove it.
“How cleverly the opposition can lead the people in a new direction we will see in September, when political activity will be renewed and the Government will have to compromise,” Guguli Magradze said.
Before the visit of Joe Biden all political prisoners should be released
Sakartvelos Respublika reports that at the office of the Ombudsman on July 6 the NGO Law for People presented concerning data about the number of political prisoners in Georgia, which is almost a hundred already. The NGO held its meeting with the families of political prisoners in the Ombudsman’s office to coincide with the US President’s visit to Russia.
Head of Law for People Zaqaria Kutsnashvili said: “We say that the number of people being pursued and imprisoned for their political views in Georgia is now extremely big. Before the April 9 rallies there were 30 political prisoners, today this number has trebled and 92 such people are now imprisoned under various criminal and administrative laws. Therefore we have started fighting against this alongside society and political parties.”
Law for People has asked international organisations and foreign Governments, in particular the US administration, to help them save the people from the dictatorial regime. It demands the release all the political prisoners before the visit of US Vice President Joe Biden to Georgia. Most of the political prisoners currently detained were arrested due to their participation in the protest rallies. In most cases however they were accused of using drugs or carrying weapons illegally.