January 26 - February 8, 2021 |
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TOPICS OF THIS ISSUE
- Georgian national has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
- Iranian Foreign Minister visits Georgia
- Georgian Parliament abstains from revoking opposition mandates
- Georgian Ministry of Defense signed a memorandum with the Chinese-owned military-industrial company
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Recent policy developments |
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Georgian national Zaza Gakheladze has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
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The de facto Supreme Court in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia has sentenced a Georgian national to 12 years and 6 months in prison on charges of the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and illegally crossing the border.
Gakheladze, a resident of the village Kvemo Chala in the Kaspi Municipality, adjacent to the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia occupation line, was reportedly shot and wounded by occupation forces before being taken into custody in Tskhinvali in July last year. According to Russian authorities in the breakaway region and South Ossetia's separatist officials, Gakheladze tried to escape arrest and shot a firearm about 10 times at Russian troops.
The Georgian side along with EU and US officials have condemned the actions of the de-facto regime and demanded the immediate release of Gakheladze, whom they claim is unlawfully detained. The MFA of Georgia expressed “extreme concerns” and called the actions of the de-facto Court a provocative decision of the Russian occupation regime and added that “Such illegal actions, taken amid Russia’s intensified steps towards annexation, further aggravate the already difficult security and humanitarian situation on the ground, create a threat of escalation of tensions and deliberately hinder the efforts that have been made in the peace negotiations towards the conflict resolution.”
The EU ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell, on behalf of the EU, called for the immediate release of Mr. Gakheladze and reminded the Russian Federation of its responsibilities in line with the judgment of 21 January 2021 of the European Court of Human Rights. Lithuanian and Estonian Ministries of Foreign Affairs responded via twitter and condemned the actions of the occupation regime.
The US Embassy to Georgia assessed the sentencing as “another example of Russia’s attempts to illegally control and exploit the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia” and called on the Russian Federation to “reverse its recognition of the so-called independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and fulfill its obligation under the 2008 ceasefire agreement”.
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Iranian Foreign Minister visits Georgia
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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Tbilisi on January 28 within the regional tour, meeting with President Salome Zurabishvili and Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia. Minister Zarif also held a phone call with his Georgian counterpart David Zalkaliani, due to the latter having been diagnosed with COVID-19.
“During the meeting with the President, Minister Zarif reaffirmed Iran's strong support for Georgia's territorial integrity”, while the President discussed with the Minister “the economic potential of the region and new important opportunities, the use of which will contribute to the development of the Georgian economy”, according to the President’s press service.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry, on its part, highlighted that the aftermath of the recent clashes in the Nagorno-Karabakh region presents an opportunity for expanding regional cooperation “to the benefit of all parties”, with the Minister Zarif informing Georgian President “of talks he has held on the subject in the regional countries”.
Minister Zarif’s visit to Georgia comes after the infamous celebration by the President Zurabishvili of the “restoration of peace” in the South Caucasus, together with expressing her regrets that Georgia was not involved in the peace efforts over the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, culminating with the Russian-led November 10 peace agreement, which has left Armenia geopolitically vulnerable. Later on, President Zurabishvili called for Georgia’s involvement in the new Caucasus Platform, an initiative floated by Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, bringing together six regional states of Russia, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia for the cooperation resulting in a “win-win” outcome for all, neglecting the Western players. The statement shared on President Zurabishvili’s Twitter account and criticized by many, was soon clarified by the President, who insisted the previous remarks had nothing to do with Erdogan, but rather echoed her own earlier peace initiatives.
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Georgian Parliament abstains from revoking opposition mandates – hopes for possible negotiations remain on the table
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Despite the breach of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Georgia on terminating the powers of the MPs, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) abstained from revoking the opposition mandates.
The decision was welcomed by the US and EU Ambassadors who are facilitating the negotiation process between the ruling party and the opposition.
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Monitoring of disinformation cases |
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Fake map published by the former MP. On January 20, 2021, a former MP Demur Giorkhelidze published a photo of a map of Georgia with a claim that Georgia in 1920 was recognized by the League of Nations with these borders. The photo includes a text stating that the French map was unknown until now and it was discovered in Göttingen Library in Germany. The presented map included Georgia’s historical territories such as Artvin and Ardahan, in the given period disputed territory of Zaqatala and neutral Lore, as well as lands that were not controlled by Georgia - Lazistan and the south area of modern-day Rize. The Georgian Delegation presented this map at the League of Nations peace conference in Paris in 1920 and asked it to recognize the independence of Georgia precisely within the borders indicated on the map. However the League of Nations did not recognize Georgia in the borders presented and made a statement, according to which the state had not solved its border issues. Myth Detector found that the false information about the map and its recognition was also published by Reportiori.ge in 2015.
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Manipulation campaign for targeted discreditation. On 28 January, speaking in a talk show “Reaction” on TV Pirveli, Iveri Melashvili, the cartographer who was released on bail from pre-trial detention, discussed, among other things, the process of defining a disputed section of the border. Various media outlets and political actors took only a fragment of the talk show and shared it extensively. This video segment included the words “how does it belong to you when it does not belong to you” which could create an impression that Melashvili was fully denying the ownership of Davit Gareji. Later, Iveri Melashvili explained that he was talking about legal, not a historical status of the Monastery and he also emphasized the importance of negotiations that might be damaged with the neighboring state after the fuss that was created around the Davit Gareji case. Myth Detector revealed a coordinated campaign against the cartographer Iveri Melashvili, whose words were manipulated to discredit him and portray him as a traitor to his homeland. Pro-governmental, pro-Russian, ultra-nationalist actors, clergy and some clickbait websites with Russian IP addresses were engaged in this malicious campaign.
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Vaccination hoax. From 1-3 February, videos depicting vaccinations in different countries were virally disseminated on social media by anti-vaxxer activists as ‘proof’ of vaccine fraud. For example, some of the video footage illustrates that after the injection, the nurse is only holding a syringe without a needle. Another video depicts nurses holding syringes with safety caps on during the vaccination. Moreover, there is a video that portrays a Brazilian healthcare advisor getting a vaccine shot. Myth Detector checked the videos and revealed that they have been manipulated to give the false impression that immunization is staged and that people don’t, in reality, receive vaccines. See the detailed debunking on the Myth Detector.
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Ministry of Defense has signed a memorandum with the notorious “Motor Sich” company
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In January, Georgian Minister of Defense Irakli Gharibashvili hosted the delegation of the Ukrainian Chinese-owned military-industrial company “Motor Sich”, which is responsible for producing the engines for various types of aircraft and has been caught up in several scandals and dubious activities. Within the framework of the visit, Motor Sich has signed a trilateral memorandum of cooperation with the Georgian State Military Scientific-Technical Center DELTA and Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing (TAM), also known as “JSC Tbilaviamsheni”. “The cooperation with Motor Sich aims to develop the military industry and modernize aircraft belonging to the defense forces. The company is already repairing helicopter engines and gears owned by the defense forces. The meeting was attended by the head of the company, President of Motor Sich Vyacheslav Boguslaev, Deputy Minister of Defense Juansher Burchuladze, Director of “Delta” Zurab Azarashvili and other representatives of Motor Sich.”- mentioned in the statement of MoD.
In 2017, a Ukrainian Court arrested the stocks of Motor Sich, as in 2016 the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) suspected Vyacheslav Boguslaev of illegally selling 56% of the shares to Chinese investors. In 2019, the Ukrainian SBU launched a new investigation and accused the executives of the Motor Sich plant in Donbas of “financing terrorism”, manifested in their illegal payments to the Russian-backed military forces in the conflict region. On January 14, 2021, the Chinese Skyrizon Aviation Industry Investment Co. Ltd (the parent company of Motor Sich) was added to the list of companies sanctioned by the US Department of Commerce. On January 29, President Zelensky signed a decree imposing the new sanctions on the Chinese owners of the company. Motor Sich has also been involved in several other scandals occurring in Nigeria and India. However, the Georgian MoD is not aware of or prefers to ignore these controversies while hosting the company’s corrupt shareholders and signing the cooperation memorandum with them.
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Civil society organizations' initiatives |
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On January 28, Civic IDEA published a new report, “Virus of Urgency Part #2”, addressing the issues of ethnic and religious minorities, and the problems of inequality and racism in Georgian society during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report is merely based on the evidence and examples related to the Azerbaijani community. It discusses the problems of language ignorance, the low levels of community integration reflected in the activities of state authorities and the Georgian orthodox church, and the narrative of ethno-religious nationalism that Georgia was unable to overcome.
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The National Democratic Institute (NDI) has released a new public opinion poll revealing Georgian respondents' attitudes towards broad issues, such as national and economic questions, the government's handling of COVID-19, NATO and EU integration, and the performance of national institutions. Based on the survey, 80% of Georgians support EU membership, a 4% increase compared to June 2020. 74% of Georgians also support NATO integration, a 5% rise since June 2020. 82% of respondents agree that " for the new parliament to represent the interests of people like me, it is important for all political parties to collaborate."
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On February 2 Media Development Foundation (MDF) gave an online presentation of the Anecdotal Survey 2020. This is the second survey by the organization to study the impact of disinformation on public perceptions and identify which false claims or conspiracies are most widespread among the different regions of Georgia. This particular survey also included public attitudes towards foreign policy issues, the COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccination progress.
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The European Values Centre for Security Policy, in cooperation with the Atlantic Council DRFLab, Civic Idea, The Georgian Reform Association (GRASS), and Media Development Foundation, are hosting an online talk "COMPARING FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN GEORGIA." The aim of this discussion is to bring attention to the broad spectrum of problems introduced in the report available here, as well as the campaigns and activities implemented and sponsored mainly by the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China. The honorable guest of the talk will be the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Georgia, Mr. Petr Mikyska. The event will be taking place on Thursday, February 18 at 15:00 CET (18:00 GET) online here.
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