The Daily Beat: 7 March
Parliament hastily adopted amendments to the law “On Remuneration in Public Institutions” in the third hearing, significantly hiking the salaries of the President, Prime Minister, Ministers, and their deputies and other officials, effective 2025. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze justified a pay rise to prevent corruption.
President Salome Zurabishvili met with the young participants of the March protests who defiantly rallied against the Russian-style “foreign agents law” in 2023, forcing the ruling party to withdraw the bill. “You have a responsibility to convey this message to other young people and people who are studying and working abroad today that their voice, like yours, is critical in this electoral process,” said President Zurabishvili during the meeting.
The appearance of former justice minister and prosecutor general of Saakashvili’s cabinet, Zurab Adeishvili, in the Bundestag prompted unease and criticism from the ruling Georgian Dream party. Speaker Shalva Papuashvili even requested explanations from the |German side, saying that it is difficult to comprehend for Georgians to see a person symbolizing violence and torture as a welcome guest in the German parliament. Later in the day, in a letter sent to the local media outlet, Netgazeti, the German Embassy in Tbilisi replied to Speaker Papuashvili, noting that Zurab Adeishvili was visiting Bundestag as part of a Ukrainian delegation, and there was no legal reason to ban him from entering the parliament.
MP from the opposition Girchi party, Iago Khvichia, was physically assaulted in the party’s office. Iago Khvichia claims that the alleged assailant is the brother of a citizen whom Biblical Freedom – a church founded by Girchi, ordained to help avoid compulsory military service. The assailant reportedly protested Biblical Freedom’s activities, accusing it of doing “the devil’s job.” Khvichia attributes the assault to the “dirty propaganda of the ruling Georgian Dream party and Patriarchate,” refusing to cooperate with law enforcement.
Media Development Foundation, a local media watchdog, published a new report on anti-Western propaganda in Georgia, revealing that the largest share of propaganda messages was directed against the collective West and the U.S., followed by the EU and NATO. Other targets included Ukraine, NGOs, the ombudsman, and the media. “Russia was the only subject presented positively in the given discourse.” the MDF report notes.
