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Today, Regional Media Association and network of journalists organized a protest rally in front of the parliament of Georgia. The journalists working in the regions of Georgia arrived in Tbilisi to support Adjara based independent TV Company “TV-25”.

Family residing in Saiatnova Street N 4 in Batumi was fined with 4 000 GEL by the supervision office of the City Hall; the family reconstructed the house inside

It was reported that prisoners, brought from Rustavi Prison to Kutaisi Prison N 2, were beaten during transportation; consequently Public Defender of Georgia Giorgi Tughushi visited prisoners in Kutaisi prison and denied the information about their beating. Despite official statement of the public defender, the relatives of the prisoners still worry.

Association of regional media and journalists working in the regions of Georgia will hold a protest rally in front of the Parliament building to support TV Company TV-25 on October 21, at 1:00 pm. According to the organizers, the protest rally will be preventive. According to the spread information, non-governmental organizations will join the protests rally.

In July of 2007 the parliament of Georgia introduced changes to the Law of Georgia on General Courts. As a result of the amendments photo-video recording and transmitting in the courtroom were prohibited. The initial draft law prohibited audio-recording too but as a result of resistance from local and international organizations this part was removed from the draft law. The Law of Georgia on General Courts does not prohibit audio-recording at trials. Despite that, journalists are not allowed to use Dictaphones at the Telavi district court and so cannot work there properly.

Everybody in Gori is talking about the film, which is being filmed by Hollywood stars about the war last year. The city looks like a battle field and it impacts people’s psychology one year after the war. People go to work by indirect roads. Tanks are moving in the city centre, helicopters are flying in the sky, explosions are heard from time to time, and gunfire and the moaning of “dying” actors are heard. Mothers who lost their sons are crying, schooling has stopped in Gori Public School N 3. A house is burning here and a tire is burning there ...Although it is improvised the war really smells in Gori.

Telavi district court is discussing the criminal case against Kote Kapanadze, supporter of the political party the New Rights. Judge Besarion Tabaghua is conducting the trial in the smallest room of the court so that the interested people cannot attend the process. Although the audio-recording is not prohibited at trial by the Law of Georgia, the bailiffs do not allow journalists to use Dictaphones in the courtrooms.

On October 16Russian soldiers ruthlessly beat the teachers in the village of Tagiloni in Gali district.George Baramia, the head of the legitimate government of Abkhazia, reported about this incident at the press-conference. According to him, Russian soldiers broke into the school and having found Georgian books there they beat teachers ruthlessly.

The Human Rights Center has already published an article about the village of Tsitelubani in Gori district. It is very interesting village – one of those villages where ethnic Ossetians and Georgians live together and despite 20-year-old conflict they manage to live in peace.

ANALYSIS: Recovering from recent war, Tbilisi is striving to steer clear of another, writes DAN McLAUGHLIN.

HILLARY CLINTON’S words of support for Georgia during her visit this week to Moscow did little to calm fears in Tbilisi about Russia’s intentions in the turbulent Caucasus mountains.

Last month the Human Rights Centre reported about two inmates protested the injustice in Kutaisi Prison N 2 with most severe form. George Gorgodze and George Zirakadze sewed their mouths up. They stopped their protest action on 33rd day of their protest being promised from prosecutor’s office to satisfy their demands. The convicted pleaded not guilty and wanted to meet prosecutor of Baghdati district. The meeting failed. Inmates started starvation again.

Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities published the preliminary resolution on Georgia. 54-page document provides detailed descriptions of the problems that are urgent in Georgia in the field. According to the resolution, language barrier is the main problem for national minorities in Georgia and it hinders political and social-economical integration of national minorities in the society. The CoE recommends to the government of Georgia to take more fruitful measures to eradicate the problem. The Human Rights Center publishes the main part of the resolution. You can read the full document and comments of the Government of Georgia on the document on our website.

Teachers of public schools in Kakheti region are compelled to join the ruling party. The teachers say they received directives from school directors. The directors of public schools were instructed by the heads of district educational resource-centers. “Unless we apply to join the National Movement, the directors said our working hours will be limited or we will be fired,” said teachers.

Batumi City Court imposed 277 247 GEL on Batumi based independent TV Company TV-25. This is the debt accumulated during the governance of Aslan Abashidze, former head of Adjara Autonomous Republic that was later annulled by the supreme court of Georgia; however, Batumi Tax Inspection demands the TV Company to pay the debt.

The Human Rights Center is concerned about the situation in the detention settings of Georgia. Recently, sick inmates have faced serious problems. The Human Rights Center has studied several cases and you can see them on the following links:
http://humanrights.ge/index.php?a=article&id=4230&lang=en
http://humanrights.ge/index.php?a=article&id=4204&lang=en

The Human Rights Center calls upon media and non-governmental organizations to be more concerned about the problem.

Ecological migrants, residing in the village of Imera in Tsalka district, blame the current local government for protecting close people of former regional governor Levan Mamaladze. The residents of Imera informed the Human Rights Center that Kartlos Mdzeluri, former head of security guard of Levan Mamaladze before he fled from Georgia, purchased hundreds of hectares of land in Imera illegally; he paid only 60 GEL for one hectare. Local residents claim single mandate MP of the Tsalka district Misha Tskitishvili assisted Mdzeluri to purchase the land at such a cheap price when he was district governor.

According to the UNICEF, children from Shida Kartli region face most problems throughout Georgia. This evaluation was done before the war in August of 2008. The Human Rights Center got interested in the problems of the children who were mentioned in the evaluation of the UNICEF.

“The National Movement (the ruling party) is already preparing for fraud elections and will never refrain from achieving its goal. It will use the rudest and dirtiest methods to fraud the coming elections like previous ones. This time, the representatives of the Kutaisi office of the ruling party intends to involve public schools in the campaign and staffs the board of supervisors with its trustees,” said Nato Katamadze, chairperson of Kutaisi office of the Republic Party.

Tsitelubani is a village in Gori district mostly inhabited with ethnic Ossetians, though it is controlled by Georgian side and Georgian policemen strictly control the entrance to the village.

One of Georgia’s largest national TV stations, Rustavi 2, claimed in its primetime, evening news program, Kurieri, on October 7 that one of the members of group of experts contracted by EU-funded fact-finding mission into the August war, received “fee” from Russia’s state gas monopoly, Gazprom.