The News in Brief
Wednesday, October 1
Abkhaz Leader Appoints New PM
Abkhaz leader, Raul Khajimba, who took office last week, appointed on September 29 Beslan Butba as new prime minister of the breakaway region, Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, reported.
Butba, 54, a businessman, who is a founder and leader of Party of the Economic Development of Abkhazia, owns breakaway region’s only private television, Abaza TV.
His party was a member of a group of four opposition parties and seven public movements and organizations, Coordinating Council, which ledprotests against Abkhaz leader Alexander Ankvab, forcing the latter to resign.
Butba will now have to select new members of the cabinet to propose candidates for approval to new Abkhaz leader Raul Khajimba.
After Ankvab’s resignation on June 1, his close ally Leonid Lakerbaia had to also resign from PM’s post; finance minister Vladimir Delba served as an acting prime minister of the breakaway region since then.
Also on September 29, Khajimba appointed Zurab Margania as new chief of the state security service of the breakaway region. Margania previously served as deputy chief of the security service in charge of border guard.
Margania has replaced on the post of the chief of the security service Aslan Bzhania, who was Khajimba’s main rival in the August 24 early presidential election. (Civil.ge)
President re-nominates Supreme Court Judge Candidates
Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili is standing behind the candidates he nominated as Supreme Court Judges and is re-nominating them to the post, despite the candidates being rejected by lawmakers in August.
President Giorgi Margvelashvili confirmed he would re-nominate Nino Bakakuri and Zurab Dzlierishvili as candidates for the top judging position.
He hoped they would be accepted by Parliament of Georgia and approved for the role.
On August 1 he first announced Bakakuri and Dzlierishvili as his nominees for the Supreme Court Judge role. Each needed at least 76 votes to be approved for the position.
However this did not happen. During the voting process, 29 members of Parliament voted in favour of Bakakuri and 27 voted for Dzlierishvili.
If they fail to be confirmed again the President will no longer have the right to re-nominate the same candidates.
Candidate Bakakuri has worked as a lawyer for 16 years and has three years working experience as a judge. From 1998 to 2004 she worked for the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) as a lawyer and legal adviser.
Bakakuri obtained her Masters in Law at Columbia University?s Law School in New York. She has spent time as a researcher at Georgetown University Law School in international law and is a member of the New York Lawyers Association. She is also a lecturer in comparative corporate law, corporate governance and business law at various universities.
The other candidate, Dzlierishvili, is a Doctor of Law and has been a member of the Ethics Committee of the Bar Association since 2009. He is an arbiter of the Tbilisi Arbitration Institute, has many years teaching experience and has penned many research and scientific articles. (Agenda.ge)
Tbilisi City Hall given permission to revise agreement signed with "CT- Park"
Tbilisi City Hall has been given permission by the government of Georgia to revise an agreement signed with "CT- Park", Aleksandre Margishvili, Vice-Mayor of the Georgian capital told journalists on Tuesday.
According to him, after a detailed analysis, the city government will make a decision on its cooperation with “CT- Park”.
“I think it will be the most realistic if we amend this contract”, Aleksandre Margishvili said. (Frontnews)
Georgia ranks first among Eastern Partnership countries according to media freedom index
Georgia has been ranked first among Eastern Partnership countries according to the media freedom index. According to the Media Freedom Index of Eastern Partnership countries survey , Georgia is followed by Moldova and Ukraine which has improved its position by one step compared to the last year and thus left behind Armenia. The next positions were taken by Azerbaijan and Belarus. Georgia was at the top in the last year’s survey too.
The survey Media Freedom Index in Eastern Partnership Countries includes data of only first half of the current year and estimates only the level of freedom of expression.
The survey evaluation criteria are as follows: political context (level of constitutional rights and freedom of media), current practice (restriction of media freedom), including assaults, threats, arrests, investigations, censorship in terms of access to information and self-censorship; access to broadcasting; access to the internet.
60 media experts were interviewed in the survey. (IPN)
The Parole Commission discusses cases of 321 convicts
The Parole Commission has started to work on yet another nation-wide pardon - the members of the commission have discussed 321 out of 500 applications submitted by the convicts seeking for pardon. However, the commission has not taken a decision on which cases they will send recommendation to the president for pardon.
The persons convicted for grave crime are also seeking for pardon. The commission members say this time, one part of the convicts will be released, while the others will have their term reduced. (Rustavi2)
Abkhaz leader, Raul Khajimba, who took office last week, appointed on September 29 Beslan Butba as new prime minister of the breakaway region, Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, reported.
Butba, 54, a businessman, who is a founder and leader of Party of the Economic Development of Abkhazia, owns breakaway region’s only private television, Abaza TV.
His party was a member of a group of four opposition parties and seven public movements and organizations, Coordinating Council, which ledprotests against Abkhaz leader Alexander Ankvab, forcing the latter to resign.
Butba will now have to select new members of the cabinet to propose candidates for approval to new Abkhaz leader Raul Khajimba.
After Ankvab’s resignation on June 1, his close ally Leonid Lakerbaia had to also resign from PM’s post; finance minister Vladimir Delba served as an acting prime minister of the breakaway region since then.
Also on September 29, Khajimba appointed Zurab Margania as new chief of the state security service of the breakaway region. Margania previously served as deputy chief of the security service in charge of border guard.
Margania has replaced on the post of the chief of the security service Aslan Bzhania, who was Khajimba’s main rival in the August 24 early presidential election. (Civil.ge)
President re-nominates Supreme Court Judge Candidates
Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili is standing behind the candidates he nominated as Supreme Court Judges and is re-nominating them to the post, despite the candidates being rejected by lawmakers in August.
President Giorgi Margvelashvili confirmed he would re-nominate Nino Bakakuri and Zurab Dzlierishvili as candidates for the top judging position.
He hoped they would be accepted by Parliament of Georgia and approved for the role.
On August 1 he first announced Bakakuri and Dzlierishvili as his nominees for the Supreme Court Judge role. Each needed at least 76 votes to be approved for the position.
However this did not happen. During the voting process, 29 members of Parliament voted in favour of Bakakuri and 27 voted for Dzlierishvili.
If they fail to be confirmed again the President will no longer have the right to re-nominate the same candidates.
Candidate Bakakuri has worked as a lawyer for 16 years and has three years working experience as a judge. From 1998 to 2004 she worked for the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) as a lawyer and legal adviser.
Bakakuri obtained her Masters in Law at Columbia University?s Law School in New York. She has spent time as a researcher at Georgetown University Law School in international law and is a member of the New York Lawyers Association. She is also a lecturer in comparative corporate law, corporate governance and business law at various universities.
The other candidate, Dzlierishvili, is a Doctor of Law and has been a member of the Ethics Committee of the Bar Association since 2009. He is an arbiter of the Tbilisi Arbitration Institute, has many years teaching experience and has penned many research and scientific articles. (Agenda.ge)
Tbilisi City Hall given permission to revise agreement signed with "CT- Park"
Tbilisi City Hall has been given permission by the government of Georgia to revise an agreement signed with "CT- Park", Aleksandre Margishvili, Vice-Mayor of the Georgian capital told journalists on Tuesday.
According to him, after a detailed analysis, the city government will make a decision on its cooperation with “CT- Park”.
“I think it will be the most realistic if we amend this contract”, Aleksandre Margishvili said. (Frontnews)
Georgia ranks first among Eastern Partnership countries according to media freedom index
Georgia has been ranked first among Eastern Partnership countries according to the media freedom index. According to the Media Freedom Index of Eastern Partnership countries survey , Georgia is followed by Moldova and Ukraine which has improved its position by one step compared to the last year and thus left behind Armenia. The next positions were taken by Azerbaijan and Belarus. Georgia was at the top in the last year’s survey too.
The survey Media Freedom Index in Eastern Partnership Countries includes data of only first half of the current year and estimates only the level of freedom of expression.
The survey evaluation criteria are as follows: political context (level of constitutional rights and freedom of media), current practice (restriction of media freedom), including assaults, threats, arrests, investigations, censorship in terms of access to information and self-censorship; access to broadcasting; access to the internet.
60 media experts were interviewed in the survey. (IPN)
The Parole Commission discusses cases of 321 convicts
The Parole Commission has started to work on yet another nation-wide pardon - the members of the commission have discussed 321 out of 500 applications submitted by the convicts seeking for pardon. However, the commission has not taken a decision on which cases they will send recommendation to the president for pardon.
The persons convicted for grave crime are also seeking for pardon. The commission members say this time, one part of the convicts will be released, while the others will have their term reduced. (Rustavi2)