“Davit Gamkrelidze promises benefits for veterans”

New Rights presidential candidate Davit Gamkrelidze held a closed-door meeting with war veterans on December 11, Akhali Taoba reports.

In a press briefing after the meeting, Gamkrelidze pledged more state recognition for the country’s veterans.

“[The veterans] don’t have any benefits,” Gamkrelidze said. “If I win in the January 5 election, I plan to return to them the dignity and respect which they deserve. I promise that veterans will have benefits. These are the people who struggled for Georgia’s territorial integrity.”

Head of the Mamulishvili veterans organization Gia Berdzenidze endorsed Gamkrelidze, saying he will help veterans, many of whom are struggling in civilian life.

“I’ve been acquainted with Gamkrelidze for a long time, and I know that he is a respectful politician. If he becomes president of Georgia, I’m sure that veterans’ rights will be protected. We support him,” Berdzenidze said.



“Georgian Diaspora in the US supports Mikheil Saakashvili in the election”

Akhali Taoba writes that Georgians living in the US are going to support incumbent Mikheil Saakashvili in the January 5 presidential election.

About 100 Georgian scientists, businessmen and cultural luminaries living in America signed a petition supporting Saakashvili’s reelection bid.

The petition credits Saakashvili for cracking down on corruption, increasing the state’s income, building a modern army and moving the country swiftly toward NATO and EU integration.



“Nothing to be sold to Georgian businessmen in Sokhumi”

Sakartvelos Respublika reports that Abkhaz de facto prime minister Aleksandr Ankvab dismissed the breakaway region’s political opposition’s alarm over the privatization of property there as baseless.

“The state [can find out] information about companies that wish to invest in Abkhazia,” Ankvab reportedly explained.

Representatives of Abkhaz National Unity Forum claim that a company preparing to buy a Sokhumi hotel is owned by a Georgian businessman.

Ankvab said a final decision on selling that particular hotel is still in the works.



“Two young men injured by a mine in South Ossetia”

Two young men in a Georgian-controlled portion of breakaway South Ossetia were injured by a mine while gathering firewood, Akhali Taoba reports.

One of the injured men, Imeda Midodashvili, said they found a suspicious-looking object, which they then tossed away.

“After throwing this thing away, it exploded and blinded us,” Midodashvili said.

Their injuries are not life-threatening.