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The News in Brief

Monday, November 30
By The Messenger Staff



Zurab Girchi Japaridze rents a gym in protest of fining the facility

Zurab Japaridze, the leader of Girchi, is renting the gym Reformer Fitness as a residential apartment and anyone can visit him to work out.

"I am renting this whole hall, via an oral agreement, as my residence. I will have an apartment here in Batumi as long as the regulations are in effect. Here I will have exercise equipment, which is rented by Giorgi (gym director), and whoever would like to train, you can come by as a guest to house and work out, ” said Japaridze in a Facebook live.

ReformerFitness was fined by the Labor Inspectorate for violating the regulations imposed due to the coronavirus. The fitness center, despite the ban, did not stop its activities.

Japaridze says that the reason for fining the facility was its economic activity, the fact that the cash register is working. According to him, after he rents the hall as a house, the labor inspectorate can check that the cash register will no longer work here and no regulation is violated.



European Georgia responds to Japaridze’s will to negotiate with the government

Representatives of the opposition and the Georgian Dream responded to Zurab Japaridze's statement that the alternative to early elections should be ‘substantial’ to end the boycott, and for him, such an alternative is judicial reform.

Levan Tarkhnishvili, a member of European Georgia, believes that the only solution is new elections and that a reform of the judiciary is not enough. According to him, there is no sign that the Georgian Dream is going to make any proposal. Tarkhnishvili said the party does not believe in any of the promises of the Georgian Dream as they did not fulfill any of the promises made to the public.

Giorgi Amilakhvari, a member of the Georgian Dream, says that the judiciary is independent under this government and that discussions on future reforms should continue in parliament.



Georgia wins Eurobasket match against Finland

The qualifying match of the Eurobasket of the Georgian and Finnish national teams was held on November 28; the Georgian team defeated Finland 91-85.

With this, Georgia gained the third victory and became the sole leader of the group.

It should be noted that Georgia is also hosting the 2022 championship, so it will play in the tournament in any case.

Georgia will play its next match on November 30 against the Swiss team, which in turn defeated Serbia on November 28.



Lelo’s Khazaradze says Georgian Dream stole elections and funding meant for the opposition

"Georgian Dream stole the elections and the funding that belonged to the opposition," Mamuka Khazaradze, chairman of Lelo, said while speaking about party funding.

According to him, the legislation in the country regarding the financing of parties must be changed, because, as of today, it does not correspond to the structure of a democratic state.

The ‘Dream party,’ which stole the votes, received more funding from the budget, and if all the other parties fighting for the rigged elections and the seized votes refused to provide funding, it would be taken over by the Georgian Dream. Today, the Georgian Dream appropriated not only the votes, but also funds that were meant for these votes. We are refusing parliamentary funding and not party funding. Refusing the party funding means that only one party can remain in the country. There is nothing unclear here as it is provided by law. What the parties agree on means that they will still receive minimal funding from the stolen votes. This is necessary for political parties in Georgia to continue developing,” stated Khazaradze.