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The News in Brief

Thursday, December 10
Georgian ambassador to Greece says Abkhazian delegation on the Athens exhibition is a misunderstanding

According to the Ambassador of Georgia to Greece, Ioseb Nanobashvili, the organisers of the exhibition explained the attendance of the Abkhazian delegation at the exhibition as an unpleasant misunderstanding.

As Joseph Nanobashvili told IPN, they have received a letter from organizers in this regard.

"They expressed regret over the incident and called it a misunderstanding. They said it will not happen again.

“Now we are waiting for a more formal response. We have sent notifications to the Greek foreign and economics ministries. Today I am also going to notify the local diplomatic missions," said the Ambassador.

“Incidents of this kind serve to legalize the occupation of Georgian soil. We will ask local and international mass media to deliver our message to our partners. We are also preparing a letter about the measures and steps that will be taken by the Georgian government in case similar incidents happen again,” said the Ambassador.

On 5-6 December, representatives of the Abkhazian so-called trade-industrial chamber took part in a tourist exhibition held by a Greek company in Athens. (IPN)



274 Georgian prisoners in Turkey may be gathered in one facility

Georgia is in negotiations with Turkey about moving all 274 Georgian prisoners in that country in the same jail.

The Georgian prison minister visited Turkey’s justice minister on Tuesday and discussed the conditions of Georgian prisoners, according to the Prison Ministry press office.

Prison Minister Kakha Kakhishvili asked to have all the Georgian prisoners in one facility and to provide Georgian TV channels and offer Georgian literature, which would be provided by the ministry. He also requested that they be allocated a special prayer room for and provided with special food for religious occasions.

A total of 274 Georgian prisoners are serving time at 36 facilities in Turkey. Of these, 121 of them are in Istanbul, where they are offered Georgian TV channels.

Turkey’s Minister of Justice promised that if the prisoners agree, they will be located in one facility and will have access to Georgian TV channels.

The two also discussed the conditions of Turkish prisoners in Georgia. There are 93 Turkish prisoners serving sentences in Georgia, with access to Turkish TV channels. They have special prayer rooms and special food during religious celebrations.

During his visit, the prison minister plans to meet with Georgian prisoners in Istanbul. (DFwatch)



Two Georgian men arrested for Facebook fraud

Georgian police have detained two local men for online fraud.

One man was accused of illegally accessing other users’ Facebook profiles and adding them to closed groups, while the other was accused of changing users’ passwords and posting advertisements on their personal profile pages.

Police alleged the illegal actions of the two detainees, aged 23 and 32, has affected more than 2000 Facebook users. Some of the victims were aware they had been targeted while others were oblivious.

An investigation revealed that one of the arrested men had created a phisher webpage, similar to Facebook, with the aim of obtaining personal information by deceit.

The accused posted various types of information to the social network and provided a link to his phishing page. Users who clicked the link found themselves on the fake page, where they were asked to reenter their username and password.

Users who logged on to the fake page had their details automatically sent to an online database where the accused illegally stored the information. The accused then used the fraudulently obtained information to log on to users’ Facebook accounts and add them to closed groups.

During a search of this man’s computer, police found 1,010 illegally obtained passwords in the file.

Meanwhile the other detainee also illegally penetrated Facebook accounts and changed users’ passwords then posted advertisements from their profiles, according to the police. In exchange, the man received a certain amount of cash from those who ordered the advertisements. The police discovered this man had illegally reached 1,210 profiles.

After arresting the alleged offenders, the police are now in the process of returning the hacked Facebook accounts to their legal owners. (Agenda.ge)