Photo: Dato Parulava/OC Media.
Residents of two villages in southern Georgia are suing the government for transferring land they have used for decades to the Georgian Orthodox Church. They claim the lands are vital for them to sustain their families, but local church officials — who plan to build a monastery in the predominantly Muslim area — don’t share their concerns. [Read more…]
Natia Kapanadze (Adjara TV)
Natia Kapanadze has been dismissed from her position as director of Adjara TV, a public broadcaster in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, after four out of five members of the channel’s Advisory Board passed a motion of no confidence against her. Kapanadze has pledged to appeal the board’s decision in court.
Natia Kapanadze (Facebook)
NGOs and opposition parties have said they fear media freedom might be at risk after two members of Adjara TV’s Board of Advisors requested that the channel’s director, Natia Kapanadze, be impeached. [Read more…]
Friday prayer at Batumi's Orta mosque. Worshipers pray in the street outside the mosque. (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
A court in the city of Batumi, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, has begun considering a lawsuit brought by a group of Muslims against the city authorities over their refusal to grant a construction permit for a mosque. [Read more…]
Protesters block the road to the village of Kedkedi, the site of a proposed HPP. (People of their Word / Facebook)
The authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, on Georgia's Black Sea coast, have said they may abandon plans to construct a hydropower plant in Machakhela. [Read more…]
Muslims of Orta Mosque pray outside the mosque in Batumi (Mari Nikuradze/ OC Media)
A controversy over the construction of a second mosque in Batumi has resurfaced after the new head of Adjara, Tornike Rizhvadze, promised it would go ahead. Batumi’s Muslims have long complained that the city’s only current mosque is too small, but Rizhvadze faced criticism for his decision from a number of ultra-conservative groups including the March of Georgians. [Read more…]
Coverage of the attack on Rustavi 2.
Far-right group the March of Georgians attacked three journalists from Rustavi 2 on Monday afternoon in Tbilisi. The attack was in response to an on-air joke by anchor Giorgi Gabunia about former Georgian Prime Minister, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, his tree-collecting hobby, and Jesus Christ. [Read more…]
Tamta Abuselidze (/Women of Georgia)
‘I heard many times of women’s abductions when I was living in the village. And of course, I never thought that it was a good thing, but I also didn’t know it was illegal. They never taught us anything about it at school, there was no literature about it.’
(Facebook)
Eleven people have died and 19 were injured in a fire at a hotel in Georgia’s Black Sea resort city of Batumi, Georgia’s Interior Minister has confirmed. [Read more…]
Natia Kapanadze (adjaratv.ge)
Adjara TV is to pick up two popular TV programmes controversially axed by the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) in June. The shows are a joint production with the Georgian bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
