The News in Brief
Tuesday, October 1
By Lizi Zurabiani
Incident in Rustavi Public school #5 - parents and students demand expulsion of student who pushed teacher down the stairs
The study session failed at Rustavi Public School #5 on September 30. Instead of attending studies, students, along with their parents, held a protest in the schoolyard. Together they demanded the expulsion of a six-grade student involved in an incident about a music teacher at the same school.
Three days earlier, on September 27th, an incident took place at the Rustavi Public School #5, in a result of which Nana Tsikarishvili, a music teacher, had a concussion and a bruised spinal cord. According to Nana Tsikarishvili, she was going to the class when a 6th grader pushed her down the stairs.
The teacher was taken to the Clinic Rustavi. There are no eyewitnesses to the incident and there are no cameras installed either.
The child’s mother denies the allegation of the music teacher and says that Nana Tsikarishvili pushed herself down the stairs.
“This year, in April, Nana Tsikarishvili hit my son in the head with a math book. The school’s principal did nothing and accused my son. I filed a complaint in a Resource Centre and on May 7th in the Ministry of Education. As a result, Arsen Demetrashvili, the principal at the time, was dismissed from his post… They want to kick us out of the school. We are not going anywhere,” says the parent.
The Ministry of Education is talking with all stakeholders in order not to violate the rights of the 6th grader of Rustavi Public School #5, as well as other students, teachers and school administration representatives. Ekaterine Khutsishvili, head of the Department of Education Management and Development at the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, said this on September 30th while commenting on the parents’ protest.
On the same day, the Minister of Education, Science and Culture, Mikheil Batiashvili, called the situation in the Rustavi Public School difficult. He said that the ministry is looking into it and that “the issue issue will be resolved.”
Collaborationism is a shame - rally held outside Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“Collaborationism is a shame”- a rally with this context was held by a movement called “It’s a Shame” outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on September 30. Citizens protested the meeting between Russian and Georgian FMs.
“We’ll go wherever Georgian Dream is and tell them, that such meetings are a shame,” said Nodar Rukhadze, a civil activist.
The Georgian and Russian Foreign Ministers met at a high-level meeting within the framework of the UN General Assembly in New York. Representatives of the Russian- Georgian Foreign Ministries have not had diplomatic contact since 2008.
On September 25, Lavrov expressed a will to resume air services with Georgia. According to him, the reason behind this is that “majority in Georgia has realized the counterproductivity of the provocation against Russia at the PACE.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that FM of Georgia requested this meeting himself.
Lavrov said that David Zalikiani was interested when the air services between Georgia and Russia would be renewed, to which FM of Russia responded saying that this is a temporary measure and if the situation is normalized, the flights will resume.
Court rules Batumi City Hall treated Muslim community discriminatively
Batumi City Hall refused to grant the Muslim community permission to build a new mosque in the city on May 5th, 2017. The City Hall then stated in its decision that they would not allow construction of a cult building in the residential area. A lawsuit was filed against Batumi City Hall on June 10th, 2017, by the Foundation for the construction of New Mosque in Batumi.
The Muslim community demanded in court to annul decision made by the Batumi City Hall, to establish discrimination and to make City Hall issue a relevant legal action.
On September 30, Batumi City Court made a historic decision on the construction of a new mosque in Batumi and shared some of the criticism of the Muslim community over the mayor’s decision. In particular, the court ruled that a legal act issued by Batumi City Hall refusing to allow the Muslim community to build a new mosque in Batumi was discriminatory. The court dismissed the plaintiff’s claim that the City Hall was required to issue a construction permit and would serve as a basis for more effective and timely enforcement of the decision.
“It is a discretionary authority of the municipality,” said Jumber Bejanidze, the Judge.
The judge also emphasized that the discriminatory treatment was only seen by the court when issuing this particular act and that it is not generally the systemic attitude of the municipality or the state towards the Muslim community.
Before announcing the results, the judge indicated that it would take three stages to obtain a construction permit and the Batumi City Hall would be the one to issue it.
“The court is not the body that issues these acts… it would not be a correct interpretation that the court issued a permit or not. The court checks if these acts are legal or not,” added the Judge.
He also emphasized the fact mentioned in the lawsuit- there are 7 churches in the area where the Muslim community wants to build a mosque and the city hall didn’t interfere with any of those churches’ constructions.
The City Hall representative did not come to the court to hear the judge’s ruling.
It should be mentioned that the interests of the Muslim community were guarded by the Center for Human Rights Education and Monitoring and the Institute for Tolerance and Diversity.
Incident in Rustavi Public school #5 - parents and students demand expulsion of student who pushed teacher down the stairs
The study session failed at Rustavi Public School #5 on September 30. Instead of attending studies, students, along with their parents, held a protest in the schoolyard. Together they demanded the expulsion of a six-grade student involved in an incident about a music teacher at the same school.
Three days earlier, on September 27th, an incident took place at the Rustavi Public School #5, in a result of which Nana Tsikarishvili, a music teacher, had a concussion and a bruised spinal cord. According to Nana Tsikarishvili, she was going to the class when a 6th grader pushed her down the stairs.
The teacher was taken to the Clinic Rustavi. There are no eyewitnesses to the incident and there are no cameras installed either.
The child’s mother denies the allegation of the music teacher and says that Nana Tsikarishvili pushed herself down the stairs.
“This year, in April, Nana Tsikarishvili hit my son in the head with a math book. The school’s principal did nothing and accused my son. I filed a complaint in a Resource Centre and on May 7th in the Ministry of Education. As a result, Arsen Demetrashvili, the principal at the time, was dismissed from his post… They want to kick us out of the school. We are not going anywhere,” says the parent.
The Ministry of Education is talking with all stakeholders in order not to violate the rights of the 6th grader of Rustavi Public School #5, as well as other students, teachers and school administration representatives. Ekaterine Khutsishvili, head of the Department of Education Management and Development at the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, said this on September 30th while commenting on the parents’ protest.
On the same day, the Minister of Education, Science and Culture, Mikheil Batiashvili, called the situation in the Rustavi Public School difficult. He said that the ministry is looking into it and that “the issue issue will be resolved.”
Collaborationism is a shame - rally held outside Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“Collaborationism is a shame”- a rally with this context was held by a movement called “It’s a Shame” outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on September 30. Citizens protested the meeting between Russian and Georgian FMs.
“We’ll go wherever Georgian Dream is and tell them, that such meetings are a shame,” said Nodar Rukhadze, a civil activist.
The Georgian and Russian Foreign Ministers met at a high-level meeting within the framework of the UN General Assembly in New York. Representatives of the Russian- Georgian Foreign Ministries have not had diplomatic contact since 2008.
On September 25, Lavrov expressed a will to resume air services with Georgia. According to him, the reason behind this is that “majority in Georgia has realized the counterproductivity of the provocation against Russia at the PACE.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that FM of Georgia requested this meeting himself.
Lavrov said that David Zalikiani was interested when the air services between Georgia and Russia would be renewed, to which FM of Russia responded saying that this is a temporary measure and if the situation is normalized, the flights will resume.
Court rules Batumi City Hall treated Muslim community discriminatively
Batumi City Hall refused to grant the Muslim community permission to build a new mosque in the city on May 5th, 2017. The City Hall then stated in its decision that they would not allow construction of a cult building in the residential area. A lawsuit was filed against Batumi City Hall on June 10th, 2017, by the Foundation for the construction of New Mosque in Batumi.
The Muslim community demanded in court to annul decision made by the Batumi City Hall, to establish discrimination and to make City Hall issue a relevant legal action.
On September 30, Batumi City Court made a historic decision on the construction of a new mosque in Batumi and shared some of the criticism of the Muslim community over the mayor’s decision. In particular, the court ruled that a legal act issued by Batumi City Hall refusing to allow the Muslim community to build a new mosque in Batumi was discriminatory. The court dismissed the plaintiff’s claim that the City Hall was required to issue a construction permit and would serve as a basis for more effective and timely enforcement of the decision.
“It is a discretionary authority of the municipality,” said Jumber Bejanidze, the Judge.
The judge also emphasized that the discriminatory treatment was only seen by the court when issuing this particular act and that it is not generally the systemic attitude of the municipality or the state towards the Muslim community.
Before announcing the results, the judge indicated that it would take three stages to obtain a construction permit and the Batumi City Hall would be the one to issue it.
“The court is not the body that issues these acts… it would not be a correct interpretation that the court issued a permit or not. The court checks if these acts are legal or not,” added the Judge.
He also emphasized the fact mentioned in the lawsuit- there are 7 churches in the area where the Muslim community wants to build a mosque and the city hall didn’t interfere with any of those churches’ constructions.
The City Hall representative did not come to the court to hear the judge’s ruling.
It should be mentioned that the interests of the Muslim community were guarded by the Center for Human Rights Education and Monitoring and the Institute for Tolerance and Diversity.