Ukraine Sanctions Georgia Airways & more– 6th July 2023

th of July: 2023

We start this week with some extremely bad news about Georgia's democratic future. As we know the Georgian Dream or Otsneva is extremely worried about how unpopular they are how difficult it will be for them to win the parliamentary elections in 2024.

So, what do they do?

On Monday, the 3rd, the Parliament successfully and terrifyingly overrode President Salome Zurabishvili's veto on amendments to the electoral code, modifying the process of electing the chairman and members of the Central Election Commission or CEC. That veto override means the Parliament chairman will now possess the complete authority to establish the commission, handpick and present candidates, and conduct the election, all with a simple majority of the Parliament. The President criticized the new election process, stating that it constituted a unilateral decision. She is of course right. This is a complete takeover of the election administration of the country. Stay relentless, siblings.

On to Ukraine and Georgia…

On Saturday, the 1st, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s President, sanctioned "Georgian Airways" and Tamaz Gaiashvili, the company's chairman. The airline recently resumed direct flights to Russia and had planned to introduce stopovers for Russians heading to Europe. In response, Levan Davitashvili, Minister of Economy, said that this was an unacceptable and unfriendly decision, which does not fit into the standard of relations between Georgia and Ukraine. He also blamed the opposition for using their connections with the Ukrainian government to sanction Georgian companies and citizens.

Continuing with Misha's court hearings.

ia an online platform for the: 2007

Moving on to assaults on the opposition.

On Friday the 30th, Georgian Dream or Otsneba party activists and municipal employees confronted Levan Khabeishvili, United National Movement Chairman, during his meeting with local residents in Kaspi. They aggressively insulted him and assaulted him physically and damaged his car. During a live broadcast, Otsneba activists also assaulted journalist Giorgi Akhalkatsi from the opposition oriented broadcaster Mtavari Arkhi, accusing him of spreading false information. The Natsebi has urged the Ministry of Internal Affairs to respond promptly to these attacks. The Ministry of Interior has started investigating the violent events in Kaspi.

of the four recipients of the: 2023

More on human rights.

On Wednesday the 5th, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, or GYLA, issued a report on the violence journalists and individuals suffered exactly two years ago during the Pride March. The report states that GYLA has assisted nineteen victims, including seventeen members of the media, in court cases over the past two years. The Tbilisi City Court has issued several guilty verdicts. However, the Tbilisi Court of Appeal overturned the verdict of some of the perpetrators and acquitted them of participating in organized group violence. GYLA stated: "It is clear that, despite the punishment of certain perpetrators, the authority in charge of criminal proceedings does not have the necessary will to punish the organizer of violent actions, the leader, or the persons who publicly incited violent acts."

Moving on to Garibashvili's annual report to the Parliament.

in the January-May period of: 2023

Garibashvili lied that obtaining EU candidate status remains the government's top priority then hilariously and cynically criticized the European Union for making a significant mistake by not granting Georgia the status while awarding it as a bonus to Moldova and Ukraine. This guy.

We have some important medical news.

On Tuesday the 4th, Bio-chim-pharm, a Georgian-based biopharmaceutical company that develops a sustainable alternative to antibiotics, announced that it had completed a six million euro modernization project at its historic phage manufacturing facility in Tbilisi. The EU and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), were crucial partners to reach the project’s aim; antimicrobial resistance, and the development of phage therapy in Georgia. The EBRD provided a significant loan and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations also provided a modest 125,000 euro grant for the modernization of the facility.

Moving on to international news.

On Tuesday the 4th, Juansher Burchuladze, Defence Minister, met with his Swedish counterpart Carl-Oskar Bohlin in Sweden. They discussed regional security challenges, bilateral cooperation between Georgia and Sweden, and relations with NATO.

Speaking of NATO, Kaja Kallas, Estonian Prime Minister and possible next NATO SecGen mentioned Georgia's NATO aspirations. Kallas said that Ukraine and Georgia have decoupled in their NATO membership path because Georgia's leadership doesn't believe in NATO membership, "they don't really push that agenda that much.". She stressed that Garibashvili blamed NATO for the war in Ukraine, which is not true as NATO is a defense alliance, and neither NATO nor Ukraine provoked Russia's attack.

On Wednesday, the 5th, The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly called for the immediate and unconditional removal of Russian military forces from Georgia's occupied territories of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia). The Assembly adopted the Vancouver Declaration during its thirtieth annual session, emphasizing the importance of actively engaging in a peaceful resolution to the Russia-Georgia conflict while respecting Georgia's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

In Imereti, on Tuesday the 4th, the organization Partnership for Human Rights, or PHR, reported that the Kutaisi City Court established that Paata Dograshvili, coach of the women's football club "Martve", sexually harassed nine female football players. PHR said that "This is the first court decision where a football club and a coach were found responsible for sexual harassment and ordered to pay damages. We congratulate the female footballers on this victory and encourage everyone to fight for their rights,". The Kutaisi City Court ordered the offender and the football club to pay 36,000 laris, about 13,000 US dollars for moral damages.

Also on Tuesday, the opening of the Anaklia-Ganmukhuri sea season took place. Visitors enjoyed diverse entertainment and cultural activities throughout the day, such as a bicycle marathon, a gastronomy exhibition, and a free entrance to the water park in Ganmukhuri. The festivities culminated with TAMADA, a concert with a famous Georgian DJ.

We end this week's episode with investment news.

On Tuesday, the 4th, the Asian Development Bank announced it would invest twenty million laris, around eight million US dollars, to deploy zero-emission light, road, and non-road electric vehicles in Georgia and expand the charging networks with seventy new stations. Tegeta Motors, one of Georgia's top automotive products and services companies, will receive the investment in lari-denominated green bonds for two years and six months. Vakhtang Kacharava, Executive Director of Tegeta Motors, stated that the company is committed to pioneering the issuance of green bonds to support national efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

This Georgia Rorshok Update is one of the country-specific podcasts we do.

But we've always wanted to try some on other topics less tangible than….countries. And we finally have!

Last week we launched the Rorshok Ocean Update, about the 70% the Earth's surface covered in salt water, as well as The Rorshok Multilateral Update, covering the world's major multilateral institutions. And coming soon, the Rorshok Arctic Update. You can look for them in your podcast listening app of choice or follow the links in the show notes! Tell your friends!

Nakhvamdis!