UNM MP Nika Melia (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
The opposition United National Movement Party (UNM), as well as two other minor parties, has announced they are officially joining anti-government protests currently taking place in Tbilisi. UNM MP Nika Melia addressed crowds gathered outside parliament after meeting with protest leaders and said the protests would resume on Sunday at 18:00 where they will announce a plan for how to continue [Read more…]
Zaza Saralidze (Dato Parulava/OC Media)
Georgia’s chief prosecutor, Irakli Shotadze, has resigned, following large protests in Tbilisi. The protests have been sparked by what critics call a ‘compromised investigation’ into the fatal stabbing of two teenagers outside a school in Tbilisi in December. On Thursday, Tbilisi City Court found one teenager guilty of killing Levan Dadunashvili, while another was found guilty of the lesser charge of attempted murder on Davit Saralidze, leaving open the question of who killed him. [Read more…]
People gathering at the Prosecutor’s Office where the father of murdered teenager Davit Saralidze is holding a demonstration (Tatia Khaliani /Liberali)
Tbilisi City Court has acquitted two teenagers of the murder of Davit Saralidze, one of the two teenagers killed in a school brawl in December. The court found one of the defendant’s guilty of killing the second victim, Levan Dadunashvili, while the other was found guilty of the attempted murder of Saralidze. The pair are to be sentenced on 1 June. [Read more…]
(Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
Thousands of protesters blocked Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue on Sunday demanding a proper investigation into last December’s fatal stabbing of two teenagers outside their school. The father of one of the victim’s accused the authorities of tampering with evidence during the investigation. [Read more…]
(Bassiani)
Georgia’s judiciary has come under fire from NGOs and officials after a 27-year-old man charged with stabbing three people, including a police officer, was released on bail. The incident happened on 13 January in Tbilisi outside the Bassiani nightclub. [Read more…]
A gathering at the Public School #51 in solidarity with the victims (Luka Pertaia /OC Media)
Two 16-year-old boys have been stabbed to death in a school brawl in Tbilisi. The Prosecutor’s Office has charged two teenagers with ‘premeditated murder of an underage person’, and three others for failing to report the crime. [Read more…]
Four men from a small mountain village in southern Russia were detained in November suspected of setting fire to the local government building. With holes in the official story and torture apparent, relatives of the men say the charges are the work of a new police chief in town, trying to make a name for himself. [Read more…]
(Facebook)
Tbilisi City Court has sentenced a man to six months in prison for attacking a transgender woman, ruling it a hate crime. [Read more…]
A beach in Sukhum (Dominik K. Cagara/ Archive)
Many in Abkhazia have lamented the failure of this year’s tourist season, connecting it directly to rising levels of crime. The usual problems were compounded by high profile attacks on tourists and an explosion at an ammunition depot which left two tourists dead.
Advertisement for tours around Abkhazia (Dominik K. Cagara/Archive)
A number of travel agencies operating in Abkhazia have claimed that Russian citizens are cancelling tours there, Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti has reported. This follows an explosion at a military warehouse near Gudauta on 2 August which killed two Russian tourists.