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Friends back Georgia — Tbilisi gifts medical supplies to Yerevan — Controversial official climbs back — Bad blood in parliament
GEORGIA’S FRIENDS SPEAK OUT The US, Czechia, UK, and Lithuania called on Russia to stop ‘borderization’ of the administrative boundaries of its occupied Georgian provinces. Speaking in bilateral communication and at the OSCE forum – a Vienna based, high-level talk-shop – Georgia’s friends condemned the new wave of disinformation and physical encroachment attacks unleashed by the Kremlin.
BURYING THE HATCHET In an apparent attempt to gloss over the recent spat between Georgian and Armenian top docs Tbilisi donated 4 thousand medical face masks to their colleagues. As Yerevan struggles to contain the pandemic, with infection figures climbing to over 7 thousand, truly, there is no time for squabble.
FORMER OFFICIAL LANDS CONSTITUTIONAL COURT JOB On May 29, the Plenum of the Supreme Court elected Vasil Roinishvili as a new justice of the nine-member Constitutional Court, for a ten-year term. Roinishvili, 43, has been a judge at the top court since December 2009. What raised some eyebrows is that Roinishvili was a right-hand man to Zurab Adeishvili, whose track record has been widely criticized by human rights groups for summary sentencing and widespread prisoner abuse. Adeishvili has been vilified by the current administration as one of the pillars of President Saakashvili’s rule. On March 5, he was sentenced to two years in prison in absentia by the Tbilisi City Court for closing down an independent TV back in 2004.
DANCING WITH THE WOLVES If anyone doubted, the election campaign is here, and it is getting ugly. PM Gakharia was back on stand responding to MP questions today. Sailing in the wake of a successful first-round victory against Covid-19 the administration – previously accused of being uncoordinated and indecisive – seems adamant to squeeze its advantage to the maximum. Master of the dithyrambic, executive chair Irakli Kobakhidze has been at it again: “if a couple of days ago PM gave you a master-class [of debate]” he said oozing fanfare, “today he check-mated you like the chess grand master does to a beginner”. European Georgia’s Bokeria was scathing in response, saying the government seems incapable of having a civilized debate, but “bows only to those who humiliate them”.
