The News in Brief
Friday, August 19, 2022
Prepared by Messenger Staff
Electoral Code revision working process is an illusion for Georgian Dream, says Giorgi Vashadze
The leader of "Strategy Agmashenebeli" Giorgi Vashadze states that the "blocking" of ISFED from the meeting of the working group created on the revision of the electoral code is an illustration that the working process of the "Georgian Dream" government is an illusion.
According to Giorgi Vashadze, the government is not motivated to implement the recommendations and the process needs to be imitated.
"Today it became known that the ruling party blocked the inclusion of "Fair Elections" in the parliamentary working group on electoral issues, which was created to fulfill the recommendations issued by the European Union for Georgia to obtain candidate status.
This is a clear illustration of the fact that the authorities are not motivated to implement the recommendations, they need this process for imitation to create an illusion as if they have worked, done everything, and Europe has unfairly denied us the candidate status.
The working groups of the opposition parties are open to all interested parties regarding the implementation of the 12-point recommendations. We cooperate with "Fair Elections" and other authoritative international organizations, and all their suggestions will be reflected and shared in the draft laws prepared by us", Giorgi Vashadze said.
Levan Machabeli, Illegally detained by Russian occupation forces is free from prison, State Security Service releases statement
Levan Machabeli, a former soldier illegally detained by the Russian occupation forces, has been released from prison.
According to the State Security Service of Georgia, he is on the territory controlled by Georgia.
The State Security Service of Georgia releases the statement regarding the Machabeli case:
"The central government of Georgia actively used both the "hotline" mechanism and other tools at the disposal of the central government to demand the immediate release of Levan Machabeli.
The issue of his release from illegal detention was regularly discussed in the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) format, and information was continuously provided to the co-chairs of the Geneva International Discussions and international partners.
The central government continues to work actively for the release of other illegally detained Georgian citizens, both in the direction of occupied Tskhinvali and occupied Abkhazia.
The occupying power bears full responsibility for the destructive actions carried out in the occupied regions of Georgia and along the occupation line.
Levan Machabeli, born in 1987, was arrested by the occupying forces on March 26, 2022, in the village of Artsevi.
According to the so-called security committee of the occupied Tskhinvali region, "from 2005 to 2009, Levan Machabeli was a serviceman of the 3rd brigade of the Georgian Armed Forces and took an active part in the August 2008 military operations on the territory of South Ossetia".
The Security Service of Georgia denied this information and said that Machabeli is not a former soldier.
Electoral Code revision working process is an illusion for Georgian Dream, says Giorgi Vashadze
The leader of "Strategy Agmashenebeli" Giorgi Vashadze states that the "blocking" of ISFED from the meeting of the working group created on the revision of the electoral code is an illustration that the working process of the "Georgian Dream" government is an illusion.
According to Giorgi Vashadze, the government is not motivated to implement the recommendations and the process needs to be imitated.
"Today it became known that the ruling party blocked the inclusion of "Fair Elections" in the parliamentary working group on electoral issues, which was created to fulfill the recommendations issued by the European Union for Georgia to obtain candidate status.
This is a clear illustration of the fact that the authorities are not motivated to implement the recommendations, they need this process for imitation to create an illusion as if they have worked, done everything, and Europe has unfairly denied us the candidate status.
The working groups of the opposition parties are open to all interested parties regarding the implementation of the 12-point recommendations. We cooperate with "Fair Elections" and other authoritative international organizations, and all their suggestions will be reflected and shared in the draft laws prepared by us", Giorgi Vashadze said.
Levan Machabeli, Illegally detained by Russian occupation forces is free from prison, State Security Service releases statement
Levan Machabeli, a former soldier illegally detained by the Russian occupation forces, has been released from prison.
According to the State Security Service of Georgia, he is on the territory controlled by Georgia.
The State Security Service of Georgia releases the statement regarding the Machabeli case:
"The central government of Georgia actively used both the "hotline" mechanism and other tools at the disposal of the central government to demand the immediate release of Levan Machabeli.
The issue of his release from illegal detention was regularly discussed in the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) format, and information was continuously provided to the co-chairs of the Geneva International Discussions and international partners.
The central government continues to work actively for the release of other illegally detained Georgian citizens, both in the direction of occupied Tskhinvali and occupied Abkhazia.
The occupying power bears full responsibility for the destructive actions carried out in the occupied regions of Georgia and along the occupation line.
Levan Machabeli, born in 1987, was arrested by the occupying forces on March 26, 2022, in the village of Artsevi.
According to the so-called security committee of the occupied Tskhinvali region, "from 2005 to 2009, Levan Machabeli was a serviceman of the 3rd brigade of the Georgian Armed Forces and took an active part in the August 2008 military operations on the territory of South Ossetia".
The Security Service of Georgia denied this information and said that Machabeli is not a former soldier.