The Daily Beat: 6 December

• Speaker Shalva Papuashvili is visiting the Netherlands and meeting his counterparts, as well as EUROJUST, the EU judicial reform hub. The European tour is a part of the majority party’s charm offensive aiming to shore up support for Georgia’s creaking European integration. Official media reports suggested that the war in Ukraine and the situation in South Caucasus were also high on the agenda.

• Senior Ambassadors and foreign policy officials wrote to international organizations in solidarity with the plight of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili whose health has been deteriorating. They called on their colleagues to support Saakashvili’s release for proper medical treatment abroad. The group of doctors working under the auspices of the Public Defender of Georgia confirmed yesterday that Saakashvili’s condition requires “urgent and fundamental” measures to avoid “irreversible damage.”

• The Public Defender’s office found that the government failed to effectively investigate the July 5 homophobic pogrom, since no organizers were charged. Looking into the case materials the lawyers said the investigation process failed to meet the criteria of thoroughness and timeliness. In the meantime, the term of the current Public Defender, Nino Lomjaria – disliked by the majority party leadership – has expired and the process of selecting a new candidate has stalled.

Talk of the town      

• PM Garibashvili’s condolences to the families of the 6 fallen Georgian fighters in Ukraine rang hollow in the ears of many Georgians as he said they “were taken to Ukraine” by “representatives of the party of war”. Other party officials, including majority party whip MP Mamuka Mdinaradze, toed the same line yesterday. To point at what would have been the proper response in their minds, some activists – apparently from “Shame Movement” have lowered the national flag to half-mast in front of the cabinet building.