The News in Brief
Friday, July 7
Delegation from Rhine-Westphalia federal land police of Germany visited MIA
Dieter Schurman, head of the Rhine-Westphalia Federal Region, visited the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia together with a German delegation.
Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia Giorgi Mghebrishvili met with delegation of the Ministry of Interior and Municipal Affairs of German federal land.
The parties specifically noted the close and successful cooperation between Georgia and Germany's law enforcement agencies.
The meeting focused on the fruitful activities of the Georgian attache of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Berlin, which provides direct, fast and effective cooperation with German law enforcement agencies.
According to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, co-operation between the Federal Law Enforcement Agencies of Germany and the Central Criminal Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia is very active and effective, as a result of which a number of cases of organized crime were investigated as a result of intensive meetings and sharing of information.
As it was noted at the meeting, the decision of the German Federal Criminal Police Department, the German side plans to send a police liaison officer in Georgia, who will further deepen the police cooperation between the two countries.
Giorgi Mgebrishvili discussed ongoing reforms, implemented projects and planned innovations in the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the members of the delegation, including the modern, high-tech and multifunctional joint operations center, criminal police reforms, community-based police and analysis-based police projects, as well as legislative changes in the field of road safety. (MIA)
Indian citizen denied entry to Georgia twice without reason being given
An Indian businessman was refused entry to Georgia for the second time on Wednesday, after a similar incident two days earlier.
A lawyer for Akbar Khan Qureshi said the young Indian entrepreneur was again turned away at the border control at Tbilisi airport without being given an explanation.
But unlike the first time, there are so far no indications of mistreatment. This issue has been widely publicized by the media in Georgia.
The lawyer said that Qureshi runs several businesses in Georgia and suspects that “someone wishes to take them over”.
On Facebook, Qureshi describes himself as a project manager at Saguramo Gardens, a real estate project in Saguramo 20km west of Tbilisi.
Speaking to Georgian media, he said he has visited the country 17 times and has had no problems before, either at the border or while in Georgia.
When he was first denied entry on Monday he said that border guards treated him in a derogatory manner.
“What happened at the border shocked me. The documents issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the border police prove that I am clean and never broke any laws,” Qureshi said.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs wrote in a statement that “there are natural cases when foreign citizens are refused entry into country in accordance with procedures and international standards provided by law”. However, no specific reasons are given in the press release.
“Procedures for crossing the Georgian border by foreign citizens are especially controlled after the enactment of visa liberalization.
“[…] Herewith we would like to clarify that during the crossing the state border of Georgia, the border guards have the right granted by the existing legislation to refuse a foreign citizen to enter the country when a citizen does not provide convincing answers during interviews or gives false information about the purpose of their visit.
“Citizens are checked in border crossing points using the world-wide, universally recognized methods. The same procedures are carried out in relation to the Georgian citizens while crossing state borders of other countries,” the statement reads. (dfwatch.net)
We took all recommendations provided by Venice Commission into consideration – Parliamentary Speaker of Georgia
“Our main goal was to create a constitution that will prevent us from establishing autocracy. The new constitutional project allows us to do it. This is a very democratic constitution,” Georgia’s Parliamentary Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze declared in Strasbourg today.
He met with EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee members and provided them with information regarding current constitutional reforms in Georgia.
As reported by the parliament of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze has referred to activity of the State Constitutional Commission remarking that the incumbent constitution will be replaced by ‘a very democratic’ one.
According to the Parliamentary Speaker of Georgia, the governmental team has taken all recommendations provided by the Venice Commission into account.
“From the very beginning we made an ambitious statement concerning cooperation with the Venice Commission declaring we would take all its recommendations into commission. The plenary session of the commission was held before the first hearing of the constitutional bill by the Georgian Parliament. We have took all recommendations into consideration except several exceptions that mainly relate with Georgian peculiarities and refer to territorial issues. Therefore, all important recommendations of the Venice Commission have been reflected in the document, adopted by two readings,” Kobakhidze said.
As he has added, Parliament will discuss the constitutional bill at the end of September in the third reading.
He has also referred to the essence of the constitutional changes, remarking that democratic standards are significantly improved in each article. (IPN)
Dieter Schurman, head of the Rhine-Westphalia Federal Region, visited the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia together with a German delegation.
Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia Giorgi Mghebrishvili met with delegation of the Ministry of Interior and Municipal Affairs of German federal land.
The parties specifically noted the close and successful cooperation between Georgia and Germany's law enforcement agencies.
The meeting focused on the fruitful activities of the Georgian attache of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Berlin, which provides direct, fast and effective cooperation with German law enforcement agencies.
According to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, co-operation between the Federal Law Enforcement Agencies of Germany and the Central Criminal Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia is very active and effective, as a result of which a number of cases of organized crime were investigated as a result of intensive meetings and sharing of information.
As it was noted at the meeting, the decision of the German Federal Criminal Police Department, the German side plans to send a police liaison officer in Georgia, who will further deepen the police cooperation between the two countries.
Giorgi Mgebrishvili discussed ongoing reforms, implemented projects and planned innovations in the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the members of the delegation, including the modern, high-tech and multifunctional joint operations center, criminal police reforms, community-based police and analysis-based police projects, as well as legislative changes in the field of road safety. (MIA)
Indian citizen denied entry to Georgia twice without reason being given
An Indian businessman was refused entry to Georgia for the second time on Wednesday, after a similar incident two days earlier.
A lawyer for Akbar Khan Qureshi said the young Indian entrepreneur was again turned away at the border control at Tbilisi airport without being given an explanation.
But unlike the first time, there are so far no indications of mistreatment. This issue has been widely publicized by the media in Georgia.
The lawyer said that Qureshi runs several businesses in Georgia and suspects that “someone wishes to take them over”.
On Facebook, Qureshi describes himself as a project manager at Saguramo Gardens, a real estate project in Saguramo 20km west of Tbilisi.
Speaking to Georgian media, he said he has visited the country 17 times and has had no problems before, either at the border or while in Georgia.
When he was first denied entry on Monday he said that border guards treated him in a derogatory manner.
“What happened at the border shocked me. The documents issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the border police prove that I am clean and never broke any laws,” Qureshi said.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs wrote in a statement that “there are natural cases when foreign citizens are refused entry into country in accordance with procedures and international standards provided by law”. However, no specific reasons are given in the press release.
“Procedures for crossing the Georgian border by foreign citizens are especially controlled after the enactment of visa liberalization.
“[…] Herewith we would like to clarify that during the crossing the state border of Georgia, the border guards have the right granted by the existing legislation to refuse a foreign citizen to enter the country when a citizen does not provide convincing answers during interviews or gives false information about the purpose of their visit.
“Citizens are checked in border crossing points using the world-wide, universally recognized methods. The same procedures are carried out in relation to the Georgian citizens while crossing state borders of other countries,” the statement reads. (dfwatch.net)
We took all recommendations provided by Venice Commission into consideration – Parliamentary Speaker of Georgia
“Our main goal was to create a constitution that will prevent us from establishing autocracy. The new constitutional project allows us to do it. This is a very democratic constitution,” Georgia’s Parliamentary Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze declared in Strasbourg today.
He met with EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee members and provided them with information regarding current constitutional reforms in Georgia.
As reported by the parliament of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze has referred to activity of the State Constitutional Commission remarking that the incumbent constitution will be replaced by ‘a very democratic’ one.
According to the Parliamentary Speaker of Georgia, the governmental team has taken all recommendations provided by the Venice Commission into account.
“From the very beginning we made an ambitious statement concerning cooperation with the Venice Commission declaring we would take all its recommendations into commission. The plenary session of the commission was held before the first hearing of the constitutional bill by the Georgian Parliament. We have took all recommendations into consideration except several exceptions that mainly relate with Georgian peculiarities and refer to territorial issues. Therefore, all important recommendations of the Venice Commission have been reflected in the document, adopted by two readings,” Kobakhidze said.
As he has added, Parliament will discuss the constitutional bill at the end of September in the third reading.
He has also referred to the essence of the constitutional changes, remarking that democratic standards are significantly improved in each article. (IPN)