The News in Brief
Friday, May 8
Murder takes place in the village of Plavismani
A murder has occurred in the village of Plavismani, Gori district. As the Ministry of Internal Affairs has informed InterPressNews, the police solved the case immediately and detained the culprit, Gela. V., an hour after the murder took place.
According to the Interior Ministry, the detainee attacked brothers Gela G. and Badri G. with a knife and fled the scene. Gela G. died immediately, Badri G. was hospitalized and underwent surgery. His condition is stable at the moment.
The murder weapon was seized as evidence during the culprit’s arrest.
The detainee has been charged with premeditated murder. He pleads guilty. (IPN)
Normalizing relations with Russia is of vital importance - Irakli Alasania
As the World and Politics publication reports, according to Georgia’s former Defense Minister and leader of Free Democrats Irakli Alasania, it is of vital importance for Georgia to normalize relations with Russia.
According to Alasania, new common ground needs to be found in the current situation, such as economic and cultural fields.
“After restoration of confidence at its minimal level, we can speak about any kind of breakthroughs in terms of politics. But from my point of view, such progress will not occur between our countries in the near future. We need to concentrate on Georgia’s transit attractiveness and economic relationships; this should become more intensive as time goes by. Besides, there have always been conversations about de-occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,”- Alasania said.
According to him, he believes that relations with Russia will work themselves out over time.
“Today our task is not to repeat confrontations, especially those of a military character,” Alasania said. (IPN)
Supreme Council of Abkhazia releases statement concerning death of 13-year-old Levan Tsaava
The Supreme Council of Abkhazia’s Autonomous Republic has expressed its concern over the discriminative attitude towards the population living in occupied Abkhazian territory, which has caused the death of a 13-year-old child, Levan Tsaava. He lived in the village of Barghebi, Gali district.
“Different interpretations of this tragic incident have been spread, but nobody can deny that Abkhazia’s illegal government restricts our civilians, depriving them of rights – this has caused many similar occurrences.
The time has come for the people living in Abkhazian-controlled territory to be allowed to freely cross the so-called border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. The Supreme Council of Abkhazia’s Autonomous Republic calls on the Geneva and other international format participants to discuss the issue as soon as possible,”- reads the statement. (IPN)
Georgian State Minister Meets Spanish FM in Madrid
Georgian State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, Davit Bakradze, met Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo in Madrid on May 5 and discussed bilateral issues and Georgia’s European integration process.
Georgian state minister’s office said that focus was made on upcoming EU’s Eastern Partnership summit in Riga on May 21-22. It said that the Georgian state minister “stressed on importance of acknowledging and assessing positively at the summit Georgia’s progress in implementing reforms in frames of the Association Agreement and visa liberalisation action plan.”
The Riga summit and visa liberalisation with the EU were among the key issues discussed by Georgian ministers of interior and foreign affairs, when they met their German counterparts in Berlin on May 4-5; the issue is also high on the agenda of the Georgian justice minister’s meetings in Paris this week.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry said that Minister Garcia-Margallo “expressed Spain’s support in the reform process being undertaken by Georgia.”
“As stated by Garcia-Margallo, this summit serves to reiterate the commitment to eastern partners, with one of its priorities being to strengthen democratic institutions in the East,” the Spanish Foreign Ministry said.
On bilateral relations, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said, the two ministers noted need to “reinforce relations in those areas where there is clear potential for growth, as is the case of trade and investments.”
“In this regard, Spain foresees the appointment of a diplomatic officer in Tbilisi this coming summer,” the Spanish Foreign Ministry said. (Civil.ge)
Georgia Detains Eight In Suspected Soccer Match-Fixing Scheme
Georgia's Interior Ministry says police have detained eight people, including a soccer team president and two current players, on suspicion of fixing matches in the country's main league.
The suspects are the president of the club STI Tbilisi, Otar Shengelia, two Kharagauli Chkherimela players identified as Giorgi G. and Temur S., two former players identified as David Gendzekhadze and Giga B., a bookmaking company representative, and two Tbilisi residents.
The ministry said on May 5 that an investigation in Tbilisi and Georgia's second-largest city, Kutaisi, indicated that the suspects were involved in prearranging match results, suggesting they paid substantial bribes to unnamed representatives of teams in the former Soviet republic.
It said they bet on fixed matches online and divided up their winnings.
They face up to six years in prison if found guilty of "bribing participants in a sporting event”.
Georgia’s Soccer Federation issued a statement on May 5 saying that it has been cooperating fully with the investigation.
"We really hope that soccer players taking part in the national championship, their coaches, the referees, and other employees of all soccer clubs will understand the extent of damage inflicted by the situation on Georgia's soccer image and stop taking part in such deals," it said.
The soccer team representatives have reportedly received significant payments for agreeing to fix the games.
(However, Tbilisi city court decided not to leave the suspects detained and realized them on bail.The Messenger) (FRERL)
A murder has occurred in the village of Plavismani, Gori district. As the Ministry of Internal Affairs has informed InterPressNews, the police solved the case immediately and detained the culprit, Gela. V., an hour after the murder took place.
According to the Interior Ministry, the detainee attacked brothers Gela G. and Badri G. with a knife and fled the scene. Gela G. died immediately, Badri G. was hospitalized and underwent surgery. His condition is stable at the moment.
The murder weapon was seized as evidence during the culprit’s arrest.
The detainee has been charged with premeditated murder. He pleads guilty. (IPN)
Normalizing relations with Russia is of vital importance - Irakli Alasania
As the World and Politics publication reports, according to Georgia’s former Defense Minister and leader of Free Democrats Irakli Alasania, it is of vital importance for Georgia to normalize relations with Russia.
According to Alasania, new common ground needs to be found in the current situation, such as economic and cultural fields.
“After restoration of confidence at its minimal level, we can speak about any kind of breakthroughs in terms of politics. But from my point of view, such progress will not occur between our countries in the near future. We need to concentrate on Georgia’s transit attractiveness and economic relationships; this should become more intensive as time goes by. Besides, there have always been conversations about de-occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,”- Alasania said.
According to him, he believes that relations with Russia will work themselves out over time.
“Today our task is not to repeat confrontations, especially those of a military character,” Alasania said. (IPN)
Supreme Council of Abkhazia releases statement concerning death of 13-year-old Levan Tsaava
The Supreme Council of Abkhazia’s Autonomous Republic has expressed its concern over the discriminative attitude towards the population living in occupied Abkhazian territory, which has caused the death of a 13-year-old child, Levan Tsaava. He lived in the village of Barghebi, Gali district.
“Different interpretations of this tragic incident have been spread, but nobody can deny that Abkhazia’s illegal government restricts our civilians, depriving them of rights – this has caused many similar occurrences.
The time has come for the people living in Abkhazian-controlled territory to be allowed to freely cross the so-called border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. The Supreme Council of Abkhazia’s Autonomous Republic calls on the Geneva and other international format participants to discuss the issue as soon as possible,”- reads the statement. (IPN)
Georgian State Minister Meets Spanish FM in Madrid
Georgian State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, Davit Bakradze, met Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo in Madrid on May 5 and discussed bilateral issues and Georgia’s European integration process.
Georgian state minister’s office said that focus was made on upcoming EU’s Eastern Partnership summit in Riga on May 21-22. It said that the Georgian state minister “stressed on importance of acknowledging and assessing positively at the summit Georgia’s progress in implementing reforms in frames of the Association Agreement and visa liberalisation action plan.”
The Riga summit and visa liberalisation with the EU were among the key issues discussed by Georgian ministers of interior and foreign affairs, when they met their German counterparts in Berlin on May 4-5; the issue is also high on the agenda of the Georgian justice minister’s meetings in Paris this week.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry said that Minister Garcia-Margallo “expressed Spain’s support in the reform process being undertaken by Georgia.”
“As stated by Garcia-Margallo, this summit serves to reiterate the commitment to eastern partners, with one of its priorities being to strengthen democratic institutions in the East,” the Spanish Foreign Ministry said.
On bilateral relations, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said, the two ministers noted need to “reinforce relations in those areas where there is clear potential for growth, as is the case of trade and investments.”
“In this regard, Spain foresees the appointment of a diplomatic officer in Tbilisi this coming summer,” the Spanish Foreign Ministry said. (Civil.ge)
Georgia Detains Eight In Suspected Soccer Match-Fixing Scheme
Georgia's Interior Ministry says police have detained eight people, including a soccer team president and two current players, on suspicion of fixing matches in the country's main league.
The suspects are the president of the club STI Tbilisi, Otar Shengelia, two Kharagauli Chkherimela players identified as Giorgi G. and Temur S., two former players identified as David Gendzekhadze and Giga B., a bookmaking company representative, and two Tbilisi residents.
The ministry said on May 5 that an investigation in Tbilisi and Georgia's second-largest city, Kutaisi, indicated that the suspects were involved in prearranging match results, suggesting they paid substantial bribes to unnamed representatives of teams in the former Soviet republic.
It said they bet on fixed matches online and divided up their winnings.
They face up to six years in prison if found guilty of "bribing participants in a sporting event”.
Georgia’s Soccer Federation issued a statement on May 5 saying that it has been cooperating fully with the investigation.
"We really hope that soccer players taking part in the national championship, their coaches, the referees, and other employees of all soccer clubs will understand the extent of damage inflicted by the situation on Georgia's soccer image and stop taking part in such deals," it said.
The soccer team representatives have reportedly received significant payments for agreeing to fix the games.
(However, Tbilisi city court decided not to leave the suspects detained and realized them on bail.The Messenger) (FRERL)