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Trade Union of Georgia, Trade Union of Metallurgy and Mining Entrepreneurs of Georgia went on two-hour warning strike in Zestaponi and Chiatura. The workers of the enterprises subordinated to the Georgian Manganese Ltd – Zestaponi Ferro Factory and Chiatura Mines - went on strike from 12:00 to 2:00 pm on April 20. The reason of the protest was grave working conditions in the enterprises. Short time ago, people were fired from those enterprises for their cooperation with the Trade Unions.

At 6:00 pm on April 17 junior inspector of Zugdidi district police department Irodion Shelia fired his gun and Nugzar Mania was killed. Several minutes later, special reportage was shown on TV-Company “Rustavi 2” in the weekly program “PS”.

Parties and election blocks registered in accordance to the Election Code have deadline on April 30 to submit applications of their single mandate candidates. Representatives of the opposition parties state they might not have candidates in many villages because already selected people now refuse to participate in the elections. According to opposition parties, their candidates are intimidated.

Why are we permanently in war situation? Why have not we achieved consensus with Ossetian and Abkhaz parties? Expert Kakha Katsidze thinks it requires very thorough analyze. Our society was not oriented on resolving the problems through consensus – this mentality was established during the communist epoch. The wide-spread assumption was – “If I can subordinate or rob somebody, why should I agree with him about it?!”

On April 15, the National Council organized a meeting with experts and diplomatic corps in the hotel “Bets”. One of the leaders of the Conservative Party, Kakha Kukava, introduced the pre-election violations to the guests; they also provided documents to prove their findings.

Former workers of the JSC “Fero-Alloy Factory” will remain without allowance. Zestaponi district court passed verdict on March 10, 2010 and did not satisfy the suit. The suitors requested to introduce amendments to the purchase agreement signed on December 13, 2006, to compensate the damage and to cover arears of their monthly allowances.

Energo-Pro Georgia has not collected the bills in the Khurvaleti new settlement for more than two months. On January 7, Christmas Day, the electricity supply was cut off in the settlement. Despite the punishment, IDPs from Big and Small Liakhvi Gorges cannot pay the bills. They complain of unbearable conditions.

On April 15, opposition parties blocked the Rustaveli Avenue in front of the parliament of Georgia. Almost every member of the non-parliamentary opposition parties took part in the protest demonstration. They had two main requests: 1. Government shall stop political persecution of citizens; 2. People imprisoned on political grounds shall be released from April 16 in accordance to the law. Unless their requests are satisfied, the demonstrations will become larger-scaled and permanent.

US State Department published its report about the human rights situation in Georgia early in March of 2010. The document is very critical and it highlights many facts of human rights violation throughout Georgia in 2009. The information provided by the Georgian and foreign non-governmental organizations and by the report of the public defender of Georgia is used in the report. US State Department in fact admitted that there are political prisoners in Georgia.

A person was murdered at Georgia-Azerbaijan border. Witnesses said Azeri border guard shot 16-year-old Akhmed Gaurgashvili, resident of the village of Erisimedi in Sighnaghi district, on Georgian territory. Locals state Georgian border guards do not control the border; they are standing only at the checkpoint at the entrance to the village.