The Daily Beat: 8 March
Opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV reported that Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze ordered the demolition of the iron fence around the government administration building, which his predecessor, Irakli Garibashvili, erected to shield himself from “noisy” protesters. By Friday afternoon, an iron fence around the government administration building has been entirely removed. Commenting on the matter, Georgian Dream lawmakers seem as happy with the demolition as they were with its installation.
A house converted into a mosque has sparked conflict between local Orthodox Christians and Muslims in the small town of Adigeni in the southwest of the country. A group of people, supposedly orthodox Christians, surrounded a house, threatening the owner of the house, behaving aggressively, and not allowing local Muslims to pray. Dozens of police officers were dispatched to the scene to avoid further escalation. Reportedly, with the facilitation of the local authorities, conflicting parties agreed that the house would no longer function as a mosque.
Following the German Embassy in Tbilisi, the EU delegation to Georgia also replied to Speaker Shalva Papuashvili’s request to explain former justice minister Zurab Adeishvili’s appearance in EU institutions, saying he attended the meetings at EU institutions as part of the delegation accompanying Ukraine’s Prosecutor General. “Portraying this meeting in another way is disinformation,” the EU Delegation in Georgia said, adding that “fighting disinformation against the EU is step 1 out of the nine steps towards opening EU accession negotiations.”
Opposition party “Droa” members claim that they accidentally witnessed and overheard a private conversation between Russia-linked businessman Davit Khidasheli and the Vice-Speaker from the ruling Georgian Dream party, Gia Volski, which took place on 6 March, in a café near the parliament building. Droa party published a photo-video material confirming the meeting; however, it quoted the content of the dialogue itself. Droa claims that Khidasheli and Volski discussed the possible restoration of the Abkhazian railway, as well as direct contacts and business relations with occupied Abkhazia.
In the meantime, the Kremlin’s man in charge of occupied Abkhazia’s “foreign relations,” Inal Ardzinba, sees the future of Abkhazia in the Union State of Russia and Belarus. “Our main task is the Belarus project. We understand that the road leading to the Union State is quite long and difficult. Nevertheless, a significant, overwhelming majority of the country’s population supports this approach,” claimed Ardzinba at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations conference in Sochi.
The Council of Europe’s “Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists” published its 2024 annual report, mentioning Georgia’s case in several contexts. The report refers to the cases of several Russian opposition journalists who were denied entry to Georgia, as well as pressure on the media through funding mechanisms and police obstruction of the media work. The document also positively mentions the pardon of Mtavari Arkhi TV founder Nika Gvaramia by President Salome Zurabishvili as a positive development.
