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The News in Brief

Wednesday, October 29
512 crimes committed against life before September of 2014

512 crimes were committed against people’s lives before September of 2014. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 61 cases of premeditated murder took place from January 2014 to September. Also, 15 cases of premeditated murder in aggravated circumstances and 80 cases of attempted murder were reported in that period. According to official statistics, there were 271 cases of driving a person to suicide.

156 cases, including 54 cases of premeditated murder, were investigated out of the 512 crimes against life.

According to the Ministry, the rate of crimes against life was decreased by 9.86% compared to the previous year. (ipn)



Zugdidi explosion kills head of Special Task Force

Head of the Special Task Force of State Security Agency of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, Zviad Lagvilava has been killed by an explosion in Zugdidi.

“The incident took place at 1:00am at Gori Street. The blast occurred in the building where were placed the offices of State Security Agency and Constitutional Security Department. According to reports, the explosion occurred in the bathroom, which is located next to Lagvilava’s office. Zugdidi Mayor Irakli Gogokhia confirmed also this information”, a Frontnews correspondent said.

The blast wave has seriously damaged the building. According to the current information, Zviad Lagvilava was buried under the ruins of the building.

Zviad Lagvilava survived the terror attack in 2008. Tsalenjikha Gamgebeli Gia Mebonia was killed in this terror attack in 2008.

Current and former law enforcement officers, officials and former governor Tengiz Gunava arrived at the scene of the incident last night. Gunava expressed deep sorrow over the death of Lagvilava. As for the reasons of the above-mentioned, he said: “the investigation will establish the truth”.

It should be noted that this building was occupied by Russian troops in 2008, during the war between Russia and Georgia. After a withdrawal of Russian troops from Samegrelo, demining work was carried out in this building in 2008. (Frontnews)



NATO makes public intro to NATO-Georgia Substantial Package

NATO has decided to publically release an introduction to the Substantial NATO-GEORGIA Package, says Georgia’s Embassy in the United States of America. On the Embassy's official webpage the first three points of the introduction to the document were published.

A SUBSTANTIAL NATO-GEORGIA PACKAGE

INTRODUCTION

1. At their meeting on June 25, 2014, Allied Foreign Ministers agreed to develop a substantive package for Georgia. The measures in this package aim to strengthen Georgia's defense capabilities, which will help Georgia advance in its preparation for membership in the Alliance, in accordance with the Bucharest Summit decisions and underlining NATO's Open Door Policy.

2. This package is developed and implemented in the framework of the NATO-Georgia Commission, which has a central role in supervising the process set in hand at the Bucharest Summit to help Georgia prepare for membership. Georgia, as an aspirant country, will reflect the elements of this package in its future Annual National Programmes.

3. Allies are encouraged to take these measures into account in their bilateral assistance provided to Georgia. (Agenda.ge)



Georgian, French Defense Ministers Meet in Paris

Georgian Defense Minister, Irakli Alasania, who is Paris for participation at the International Workshop on Global Security, met his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on October 27.

Alasania said after the meeting that Georgia’s ongoing participation in the EU military mission in the Central African Republic, as well as bilateral military cooperation and French assistance to increase Georgian armed forces’ interoperability with NATO.

It was the second meeting between the two defense ministers in last two months. (Civil.ge)



New rules for a driving silence

Those who wish to obtain a driver’s license will have to take an exam after preparing for driver theory test with new tickets. As InterPressNews was informed from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, new exam tickets will be presented in the Georgian, Abkhazian, English, Turkish, Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijan languages. As they state within the service agency, form 2013, the Traffic Safety Law will be updated and old exam tickets will be replaced with new ones. At the same time, a new law will be put in place and new driver theory test tickets that will come into affect from 15 December will be completely geared to this new law. (IPN)



German Foreign Ministry edits warning about Georgia

The German Foreign Ministry has edited the warning about Georgia on its official website and has specified that the travel restriction concern Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region, the Foreign Ministry of Georgia told InterpressNews.

The statement titled "Georgia: travel and security. Warning about Georgian regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia" reads that the restrictions mentioned in the text were based on the Georgian Law on Occupied Territories, which calls on citizens to refrain from traveling to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"The situation in Georgia is quiet, except for the conflict regions (Abkhazia and South Ossetia). Abkhazia and South Ossetia are not under the control of official Tbilisi; Russian soldiers are deployed there. The situation in these conflict regions can be changed any time. Travel restrictions refer only to the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. These restrictions are based on the Georgian Law on Occupied Territories and calls on citizens to refrain from traveling to Abkhazia and South Ossetia," the German Foreign Ministry website says.

Georgia has been put on the special list of the German Foreign Ministry since 2008. The list includes countries with special travel warnings. (IPN)