The Daily Beat: 28 September
In an interview with the Russian news agency TASS, Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, said that the recent Russia-Georgia rapprochement, including the flights resumption and introduction of a visa-free regime, was agreed with the Georgian government. According to Lavrov, visa-free travel and air links made Russia-Georgia relations “much more convenient, much more comfortable.” PM Garibashvili confirmed that Russia’s decisions on flights and visas were taken in consultation with the Georgian government, describing these measures as “good” for the Georgian people.
Speaking to the media in Kakheti, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili commented on Georgia-Russia relations, the US-sanctioned Otar Partskhaladze, the EU candidacy, and the impeachment of President Zurabishvili. PM Garibashvili described the US-sanctioned Otar Partskhaladze as an ordinary businessman without any influence on Georgian politics, adding that he is unaware of Patrskhaladze’s alleged wrongdoings. He also decried the president’s international visits, saying the government lost its trust in President Zurabishvili.
Commenting on the charter flight scandal, Prime Minister Garibashvili claimed that he had never spent a penny of budget money and deliberately chartered a government jet for a private trip to the US to show contrast with Saakashvili-era abuses. “Thank God, I am from a fairly wealthy family; I have never been a poor person as since graduating from the university, I started working for the richest man in the country,” argued the prime minister.
Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili met with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE), Marija Pejčinović Burić, discussing the cooperation between the CoE and Georgia and the implementation of EU recommendations. According to the official press release, the Secretary-General noted the Council of Europe’s unwavering support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, expressing readiness to continue the confidence-building mechanisms.
Transparency International-Georgia (TI-Georgia), an anti-corruption watchdog, published its list of alleged high-level corruption cases, indicating a lack of accountability for high-level corruption and the increasing signs of “state capture.” According to TI-Georgia, “the nature and scope of the cases of alleged high-level corruption and the increasing number of these cases point to an alarming conclusion that high-level corruption in Georgia is taking the form of “kleptocracy.”
Human Rights Center (HRC) released its monitoring report, highlighting the disproportionate use of police force at protests. The organization monitored ten protest demonstrations from January to August 2023, and according to its findings, “a tendency to deploy a disproportionate number of law enforcement officers compared to the protest participants on the demonstration sites was observed.” In its monitoring report, the Human Rights Center outlined instances during protests where police significantly outnumbered demonstrators and cases where police numbers were insufficient to maintain public order and protect protesters from violent counter-demonstrators.
