Blog
Who will Manage Georgia's Airwaves? The Problematic Privatization of Alfa-Com
This post was updated on August 1, 2011 The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development is auctioning off the management rights of LLC Alfa-Com for the next four years.
IDP evictions, continued
In a new wave of evictions, internally displaced persons (IDPs) were forced to vacate four temporary shelters in Tbilisi on July 18, following previous rounds of evictions in August 2010 and January 2011. A majority of these IDPs were old caseload from Abkhazia displaced during the early 1990’s conflict. They were privately accommodated in Tbilisi before moving to the aforementioned shelters after the 2008 war. TI Georgia staff visited three of the four eviction sites, to monitor the process and understand the details.
Ghost Voting in the Georgian Parliament, continued
In an earlier blog post, we raised concerns about the systematic practice of 'ghost voting' within the Georgian Parliament. Our report quickly caught the media’s attention and prompted several TV reports and news articles, in one of which an MP who was depicted in our earlier video evidence of ghost voting admitted to the violation.
Georgia's not so Freedom Charter
Throughout much of Eastern Europe, lustration laws have been enacted to strengthen national security and prevent ex-Soviet operatives and informants from holding public posts. The Georgian Parliament has recently followed the trend, drafting and passing its own equivalent of such a law in May 2011, albeit in a poor manner.
The Right to Assembly and Manifestations: The Differing Positions of the Constitutional Court and the Parliamentary Majority
On June 13, 2011 ruling party MPs Pavle Kublashvili, Akaki Minashvili, Chiora Taktakishvili and Koka Anjaparidze initiated amendment to the law on assembly and manifestations . According to the explanatory note, the purpose of the amendments is to implement the recent decision of the Constitutional Court and to take into consideration the Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly prepared by the Venice Commission. However, this aim is only partially fulfilled.
