Presentation of Books, Regarding the Court Ethics, was held at the Supreme Court
July 31, 2008
On July 31, 2008, the presentation of books, regarding the court ethics, was held at the Supreme Court within the frameworks of ABA and the Supreme Court. This event was opened by Konstantine Kublashvili, the Chairman of the Supreme Court. He talked about the significances of court ethics. As Konstantine Kublashvili stated: “Even the fully improved and democratic law can’t guarantee independence and impartiality of a judge, if it’s not the personal demand. Besides expert of codes, judges have to perform great service for public with their style of life. The public has its opinion about independence and impartiality of judge pursuant to his/her action at court and out of the courts as well. Judges are indivisible parts of the system of justice and responsible to preserve the commensurate duty of judge and strengthen the confidence of the justice by the help of the above mentioned”.
The commentaries of court ethics had been worked out within the initiative and framework of Lawyers Association Rule of Law and the Supreme Court of Georgia.
The court ethics will give the additional chance to public to estimate the action of judge, which will increase the essence of court ethics for judges and for society as well.
Court ethics are the regulation of issues which are not directly envisaged by law, such as: judge action during the non-court action, in private life or public service and etc. These kind of problems are aroused in every democratic countries. Our court ethic meets the standards of Euro Council and UNDP.
The representatives of Georgian and foreign non-governmental organizations attended the presentation of books. At the end of the presentation the judges were granted with Ethic Codes.
Source: The Supreme Court of Georgia, July 2008
www.supremecourt.ge/News.aspx?sec_id=40&lang=2&news_id=413
Chairman of the Georgian Parliament David Bakradze meets his Beatitude, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Theodor II
July 31, 2008
Chairman of the Georgian Parliament David Bakradze met with the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa Theodor II. The High official guest is making visit to Georgia to take part in the arrangements for the anniversary of His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholics - Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II.
During the meeting, they spoke about the role of Georgian Orthodox Church in the current processes and the relations between Georgian and Alexandria’s Churches. The guest underlined that Georgian Catholics - Patriarch, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II is a wise man, who writes not only the history of Georgian Church, but also the history of all Georgian State.
“This is an historical visit. Our relationship has old and experienced tradition, so this visit is very important not only for them, but for us as well”, - said Georgian Catholics - Patriarch, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II.
At the end of the meeting, the guest and the hosts exchanged the presents. Theodor II made an entry in the book for honorable guests. After the meeting Chairman of the Georgian parliament David Bakradze called the day as a peculiar and delighted - “We are always delighted with the visit of Georgian Catholics - Patriarch, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, especially today when such a high official and honorable guest visited us. Today this building is full of charity, that is so rare in these walls. I am very happy to get the chance to meet and have a talk with such a high official guest ”.
Source: The Parliament of Georgia, July 2008
www.parliament.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=1128&info_id=19678
Official Press Release from the Executive Government of Georgia: The Cabinet Meeting of July 30, 2008
July 31, 2008
At the beginning of the cabinet meeting the Prime Minister of Georgia Vladimer Gurgenidze briefed the participants that review of the 50 months program is on the agenda of the day and the process will last for over a week. Meanwhile, members of the cabinet are required to present their own comments and ideas which will be discussed and summarized so that by the middle of August the finalized variant of the program will be presented before the president of the country.
The prime minister of Georgia also informed the audience that together with the representatives of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia he was on a visit to London, Boston and New-York, where they held meetings with important investors. He added that they met with the representatives of approximately 27 large-scale investment foundations. It is worth noticing that they are following the everyday events in Georgia with great interest. They also appreciate greatly the results of our economic activities in the first quarter of the current year, especially the 9.3% growth which we managed to achieve. High appreciation was given to the fact that unlike our neighboring countries, we have succeeded in entering changes in inflation rate and now, the inflation indicator is the lowest in the region. The same way positive assessment was given to the fact that despite extremely intense political season that Georgia had experienced, liberal reforms in our country are still in continuous development in the first half of the year.
Source: The Executive Government of Georgia, July 2008
www.government.gov.ge/eng/mtavroba1171367309.php?nid=6122
Official Press Release of the MoFAoG: Reply of the Press and Information Department to a Question of the News-Georgia Agency
July 31, 2008
Question: How would you assess a statement of Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations V. Churkin that ‘urgent signing of an agreement on the non-use of force and withdrawal of troops of the Georgian Interior Ministry from Upper Abkhazia’ is a necessary precondition for resolution of the conflicts?
Reply: Mr. Churkin’s statement can be seen as another attempt to save face and drag out time amid increasing levels of international criticism of Russia’s actions.
Question: How will you comment on a rising number of acts of violence in the North Caucasus?
Reply: Of our extreme concern is a successively higher level of violence in the North Caucasus, in particular, an increasing intensity of armed attacks between local rebels and Russian law enforcement agencies. Incidents of only last two days illustrate clearly how much alarming the situation is in this region.
Armed attacks in Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnia left at least four Russian policemen dead and another four wounded.
An explosion that took place near the building of the Russian Interior Ministry in Nazran, the capital of Ingushetia killed two Russian policemen and injured another two. Fifteen cars were destroyed.
As a result of an armed clash with Chechen rebels in Grozny, a Russian policeman was killed and two Russian servicemen wounded.
An attack with local rebels in Dagestan claimed the life of a high-ranking Russian law enforcement official.
We keep a close watch over the further development of events and express hope that escalation will soon be ended.
Source: The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 2008
www.mfa.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=461&info_id=7114
S.Ossetia Confirms Setting Up Military Fortifications
July 31, 2008
Mikhail Mindzaev, the interior minister of breakaway South Ossetia, confirmed the South Ossetian side was installing military fortifications in the conflict zone.
In remarks posted on the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee website on July 31, Mindzaev acknowledged that it was a violation of the agreements, but also added the South Ossetian side forced to do that in response to same moves by the Georgian side.
“Our posts are being reinforced and will be reinforced unless the Georgian side stops its destructive actions,” Mindzaev said. “We understand that building up of fortifications is a violation of reached agreements, but it was Georgia which started violating these agreements first.”
He also said that the Georgian side continued to install, what he called, illegal posts and fortifications in the conflict zone for “staging provocations” and for “destabilizing situation” in the region.
Source: Civil.Ge Online Magazine, July 2008
www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=18867
Bagapsh Rules Out Direct Talks with Tbilisi
July 31, 2008
Sergey Bagapsh, the Abkhaz leader, reiterated on July 31, that Sokhumi would not engage in direct talks with Tbilisi.
He told RIA Novosti news agency that the Abkhaz side was ready to meet with Group of Friends in Berlin sometime between August 15 and August 20.
Bagapsh, however, also reiterated that the meeting with Group of Friends did not mean direct talks with Tbilisi. He said that the format would envisage a separate meeting of Group of Friends with the Georgian and Abkhaz sides.
Bagapsh said that Sokhumi would push for two major issues at the meeting: the withdrawal of Georgian forces from the upper Kodori Gorge and signing of a non-use of force treaty.
The German Foreign Ministry said on July 30 that although the proposed Abkhaz talks in Berlin this week have been thwarted, Germany was continuing efforts to arrange a meeting between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides. No date had yet been set, Jens Ploetner, a German Foreign Ministry spokesman, said.
The Abkhaz side’s desirable dates in August for the meeting, however, seem to be unfavorable for Tbilisi. Temur Iakobashvili, the Georgian state minister for reintegration, said August, as well as early September was not acceptable for Tbilisi because of right schedule during that period.
Source: Civil.Ge Online Magazine, July 2008
www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=18865
Public Defender Calls for Probe into Newspaper ‘Intimidation’
July 31, 2008
Public Defender Sozar Subari has requested the prosecutor’s office in Batumi to probe into the alleged “intimidation” of journalists at the local weekly newspaper Batumelebi.
The newspaper, published in Batumi, Adjaran Autonomous Republic, said in a statement last week that it had received an e-mail, which said: “you will find him [one of the newspaper’s journalists] dead with the newspaper stuck in his mouth.”
Prior to the anonymous e-mail, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Eter Turadze, and another journalist were, they say, followed by unknown people. They say the surveillance was deliberately noticable, presumably so as to intimidate them.
The Public Defender’s Office said in a statement on July 31 that the incidents should be investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office as it believed they constituted intimidation.
Source: Civil.Ge Online Magazine, July 2008
www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=18864
Georgian Peacekeepers Deployed In Iraq - SlideShow
July 31, 2008
Georgia’s contribution of troops to the coalition in Iraq has split opinion in Tbilisi, but for the soldiers on the ground, the only concern is getting through their mission in one piece.
View Slideshow!
Source: RFE/FL, July 2008
Russians Pull Out of Georgian Area
July 31, 2008
The last of 400 Russian soldiers sent to repair a railroad in Georgia’s rebel region of Abkhazia began to leave on Wednesday, ending a deployment that had angered Georgia and its Western allies.
“It’s certain that all the personnel and all the equipment will be sent away from here,” the Russian commander, Lt. Gen. Sergei Klimets, said after he had handed out medals to the soldiers.
Abkhazia is a lush, mountainous stretch of land that hugs the Black Sea. Rebels fought Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in a three-year war that ended in a cease-fire.
Georgia has accused Russia, which has about 3,000 soldiers in the region acting as peacekeepers, of trying to annex Abkhazia, but Russia said the deployment of the unarmed railroad soldiers was to provide humanitarian aid.
Russia and the United States are competing for influence in the Caucasus, which the West sees as a vital route for exporting oil from the Caspian Sea.
The railroad line links Abkhazia’s capital, Sukhumi, to the town of Ochamchira, to the south.
Source: The New York Times, July 2008
www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/world/europe/31russia.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Efforts Continue for Abkhaz Talks - German Official
July 31, 2008
Jens Ploetner, a German Foreign Ministry spokesman, said on July 30 that Germany was closely involved in attempts to arrange high-level talks between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported.
Berlin remains a tentative venue for a possible meeting, but no date had yet been set, he added.
An initial proposal envisaged holding a meeting in Berlin on July 30-31 failed to materialise as the Abkhaz side refused to attend.
Both sides have different interpretations of the intended format for the failed meeting.
According to Sergey Shamba, the foreign minister of breakaway Abkhazia, it had been proposed that Sokhumi take part in a meeting of the UN Secretary General’s Group of Friends dealing with the Abkhaz conflict (involving France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia and the U.S.). Although the Abkhaz side was not “in principle” against such a meeting, Shamba said the timing was unacceptable. He suggested a late August date. The German embassy in Tbilisi released a statement on July 29 saying that the Abkhaz side’s readiness was “an important signal.”
Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin did indeed suggest that Moscow was against immediately convening a meeting of the Group of Friends.
“We always appreciate having good meetings, but we believe that this one has to be well-prepared and the parties must also be invited to that meeting if they are willing to come,” Churkin told journalists in New York after the UN Security Council discussed the secretary-general’s latest report on the situation in Abkhazia on July 29.
Abkhaz officials, however, have also underlined that their hypothetical participation in such a meeting would in no way constitute direct talks with the Georgian side. Sokhumi sets two preconditions for resuming direct talks: signing of a non-use of force treaty and the withdrawal of Georgian forces from the upper Kodori Gorge.
Officials in Tbilisi, however, have contradicted Shamba’s take on the proposed meeting. They say the proposal was not for a meeting of the Group of Friends, but a meeting between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides in Berlin with the mediation of the German side to discuss the so-called German three-stage plan. Following these talks, a follow-up meeting of the Group of Friends at the level of political directors was planned, according to Georgian officials. They have also alleged that it was on Moscow’s insistence that the Abkhaz side rejected the proposal.
Source: Civil.Ge Online Magazine, July 2008