Georgian digest: excerpts
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Subject: Georgian digest: excerpts
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Georgian digest: excerpts
ANNOTATED DAILY HEADLINES
OF THE GEORGIAN PRESS
Compiled by the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and
Development (CIPDD)
Text: Tamara Shamil
English version: Guram Dumbadze
Editor: Emil Adelkhanov-Steinberg
June 3, 1999
1. PUNITIVE OPERATIONS BEGAN IN GALI
After two Abkhaz militiamen had been killed in the village of Saberio,
Gali district, Abkhazia, the Abkhaz police captured five Georgians.
The local Georgians responded to violence with violence - seven Abkhaz
policemen were slain in the district last week. According to latest
information, the Abkhaz government has deployed additionally more than
100 policemen in the district.
Iprinda news agency. "Dilis Gazeti" No. 123, June 3, p. 2
.....................
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June 4, 1999
1. HELLO, THIS IS THE EMBASSY OF ADJARIA!
Many in Tbilisi, including Eduard Shevardnadze, painfully reacted to
deputy head of the Adjarian representation in Tbilisi Hamlet
Tchipashvili's recent article published in the Resonance daily. The
article which is said to be none but a joke describes Adjaria seceding
from Georgia. However, Tbilisi does not regard it as a joke: the
general opinion is that Tchipashvili would hardly have dared to kid in
such a way without the Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze's approval.
Maia Chikvaidze. "Shvidi Dge" No. 64, June 4-6, pp. 1, 2
2. CONCEALING THE TRUTH MAY ENTAIL FATAL CONSEQUENCES
At the June 3 governmental sitting Eduard Shevardnadze said certain
Russian political circles were going to launch a conference "The
Mechanisms To Exercise the Right of Nations to Self-determination" in
one of the Georgian provinces (he meant the Glasnost Foundation that
intends to hold a conference in Adjaria). In his words, this action is
meant to become "a new bomb" for Georgia. He suggested the organisers
to hold this kind of conference in Chechnya, Daghestan or Tatarstan,
Russia. Otherwise he promised to respond the very next day with
another conference: that on ethnic purges, aggressive separatism and
genocide, and present 30 files with materials about violence against
the Georgians in Abkhazia.
"Svobodnaya Gruzia" No. 121-122, p. 2
3. AN ABKHAZ COLONEL SLAIN
According to Anzor Akhalaia, deputy minister for information of the
Tbilisi-based government of Abkhazia, unidentified gunmen shot to
death two Abkhaz mariners - a colonel and his driver - in the village
of Dikhazurga, Gali district of Abkhazia, on June 2. The incident is
to be discussed at today's four-party meeting in the village of
Chuburgini.
Iprinda news agency. "Shvidi Dge" No. 64, June 4-6, p. 5
.....................
-----------------------
June 8, 1999
1. JEHOVAH WITNESSES TO BE PROSECUTED
The trial MP Guram Sharadze on behalf of the "Georgia Above All"
Society vs. two Georgian organisations of Jehovah Witnesses, "The
Union of Jehovah Witnesses" and The Bible and Pennsylvanian Guard
Tower Treatises Society, is starting in the Isani district court of
Tbilisi today. Sharadze accuses them of anti-national, anti-Orthodox
and anti-state activities. Both organisations were registered by the
Isani district court in 1998.
Prime-News agency. "Alia" No. 89, June 8-9, p. 2
.....................
3. THE ABKHAZ AGGRESSION IN ISTANBUL
A regular round of the Georgian-Abkhaz peace talks began in Istanbul
yesterday, in the framework of Geneva agreement, under the UN aegis
and through the mediation of Russia and the western countries -
Friends of the UN Secretary General for the Conflict in Abkhazia. The
Abkhaz delegation (headed by Vladislav Ardzinba) made a statement,
accusing Georgia of "terroristic policy" against Abkhazia. The talks
are supposed to result in a protocol and a security document.
Keti Khatiashvili. "Alia" No. 89, June 8-9, p. 2
4. THE NASTY ERA'S PARK
After the harsh, unanimous reaction of Georgian politicians and public
figures against the intention of the "Glasnost" foundation to hold a
conference on self-determination of nations in Batumi, the Adjarian
leader Aslan Abashidze's press-centre told that it was Abashidze's
advisor to blame - for "incorrect information". Now the conference is
said to be focused not on self-determination but on human rights.
Tamaz Lomsadze. "Svobodnaya Gruzia" No. 124, June 8, p. 3
-----------------------
June 9, 1999
.....................
2. JEHOVAH WITNESSES' BOOKS BURNT UP OUTSIDE THE COURTHOUSE
The trial MP Guram Sharadze vs. two Georgian organisations of Jehovah
Witnesses, "Union of Jehovah Witnesses" and "Bible and Pennsylvanian
Guard Tower Treatises Society", began yesterday. Sharadze demands to
cancell their registration for their "anti-national, anti-Orthodox and
anti-state" activities. Representatives of the Orthodox Patriarch
attended the trial. In the courtroom, the advocate of the defenders
had to prove that he was an Orthodox Georgian and patriot. Meanwhile
the flock of the unfrocked radical priest Basil Mkalavishvili was
burning Jehovah Witnesses' books at the doorstep of the courthouse.
Tamara Akhalbedashvili. "Akhali Taoba" No. 156, June 9
.....................
-----------------------
June 10, 1999
1. TBILISI GETTING READY TO HOST ASLAN ABASHIDZE
Aslan Abashidze, the Chairman of the Adjarian Supreme Council, has
declared he is going to attend his party's (Union for Democratic
Revival) congress which is expected to be held in Tbilisi. Although
Mr. Abashidze is a member of the Georgian parliament and its Deputy
Chairman, he has not visited Tbilisi for almost ten years, explaining
this by his unwillingness to risk his life.
"Alia" No. 90, June 10-11, p. 1
2. RESPONDENTS ARE IN FAVOUR OF SEPARATISM
Almost all the 200 respondents interrogated by the Tskhinvali
Information Centre (South Ossetia) said South Ossetia should not be a
part of Georgia.
Prime-News agency. "Dilis Gazeti" No. 129, June 10, p. 2
.....................
-----------------------
APPENDIX
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,
We are sending the attached letter to make you aware of what is
happening in our church. We thank you for praying for us as we face
this important time.
Pastor Zaali and Nino
To Whom It May Concern:
The citizens of Georgia who are a part of the Evangelical Faith
Christians of All Georgia write this letter. We see that Georgia has
started to build a very strong Democratic nation and we realize that
it is a very difficult process. In spite of this difficulty, we
appreciate the fact that the Georgian constitution allows us the
freedom to confess our faith freely without persecution and insult.
On the contrary, we are saddened to share with you the following
matter.
On May 27 and 28, the Evangelical Faith Church "Madli" (Grace)
conducted an outdoor meeting between Buildings 21 and 22 in Micro
Region 3-A of Gldani, Tbilisi. They sang songs and shared words of
inspiration to one another from the Bible. On the first day everything
was peaceful. But on the second day, two policeman of the Gldani
region police station interrupted their gathering without any warning.
These officers asked the pastor and his wife, Zaali and Nino
Tkeshelashvili to follow them to the police station.
In the same evening the pastor and his wife went to the police station
where they were questioned by two police officials, Gldani Region
Assistant Police Chief Givi Ekizashvili and Shalva Rukhadze. The
officers demanded an explanation of why they were gathering and a
complete list of the names of their congregation. They refused to
give the list of names. After 2 hours, the officers told them that
everything was all right and allowed them to leave. The officers did
not forbid them to gather publicly, they only asked for the volume on
the sound system to be reduced.
On the evening of May 29, the congregation moved to the location of
Building 23 in the same region where several people of the
congregation live. At 6:00 p.m. they began their meeting. After
approximately 30 minutes, as one of the ladies was singing a song, two
police officials came to this gathering and again interrupted their
meeting. They refused to give the Pastor their name or their reason in
coming. They began to ask that Pastor Zaali go with them to the police
station. This was completely unexpected because of the meeting with
the police officials the previous night at the police station. After
Pastor Zaali promised to come to the police station following the
meeting, the officers left and the meeting continued.
Within 20 minutes, again without any warning, the Assistant Police
Chief, Givi Ekizashvili, stormed into their meeting and forcefully
removed the microphone from Pastor Zaali as he was talking. He harshly
insulted both Zaali and Nino. One of the things that he said was, "Go
away from this place, I will kill you all" (this entire encounter is
on video and is also included in the Georgian transcript). He lost his
self-control and began to say bad words to the people standing around
and at that time he struck Nino and then turned and pushed a 60 year
old woman to the ground. Moments later he threatened to pull out his
gun (this can be seen in the pictures and the video).
Soon after this assault the Gldani Region Police Chief, Tamaz
Davitashvili, also came and began to verbally abuse those gathered
there. He obviously supported his employee's actions, character, and
attitude.
The police continued to insult and argue for some time. Therefore,
Pastor Zaali, wanting to maintain peace, called his congregation
together and asked them to leave that place and go to their homes.
Most of them left, but approximately 25 (5 men and 20 women) of them
went with Zaali and his wife. As they were leaving the police
attempted to take Zaali and Nino, but because of the large amount of
people that had gathered there, they were not able to. It was
impossible for Zaali to go by his own car. So the 25 people of the
congregation knew that they must stay together to protect each other.
They walked for about 20 minutes toward the Metro Achmeteli. When they
were in the courtyard of the Micro-Region 3, Building 3-B, three
police cars containing approximately 12 police drove in front of them
blocking the group of 25 in the courtyard. They immediately attacked
the pastor and tried to take him by force, but the congregation
protected him and would not allow them to do this. For the next 10
minutes the police beat this group of people. Gocha Lalebashvili was
thrown to the ground and kicked in the head and face. He has 3 teeth
that are now loose. Kakha Beridze was hit in the face and choked. They
put Kakha and Gogi Tciklauri in one of the cars, but again the
congregation freed them. The pastor was beaten and many of the ladies.
The shouting and crying attracted the attention of many of the people
in this micro-region and because of the inability of the police to
overcome the group quickly, the officers returned to their cars and
left.
The pastor, his wife and eleven people of his congregation went to a
home belonging to one of his parishioners. At 11:00 p.m. the pastor
was informed by mobile phone that a large number of the Gldani police
force were aggressively looking for the video tape and Pastor Zaali.
Obviously, the entire congregation was under tremendous distress. For
the Pastor and his wife it was impossible for them to leave Gldani. By
cell phone, they asked 2 American friends to come and take them out.
After the Americans came to take this last group of people, one police
car followed them for approximately 40 minutes. At one point the
officers tried to stop the group in order to obtain the video tape
which would incriminate the Gldani Police Department. Because of the
help of these American friends it was possible to safely come out of
Gldani.
>From that night until now, the Gldani police continue to watch the
people who are a part of this congregation and they are attempting to
gather information about them. Pastor Zaali's car remains at
Micro-Region 3-A because of the police activity and the fear of
further repercussions should he return for it.
We support Georgia's effort to establish Democracy and we hope that we
can work together for the final victory of democracy in our country.
We thank you for your kindness and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Pastor of Evangelical Church "Madli"
Zaali Tkeshelashvili
Associate Pastor
Nino Tkeshelashvili
Bishop of the Evangelical Faith Christians of Georgia
Olegi Khubashvili
Pastor Giorgi Jvarsheishvili
Pastor Giorgi Gigoshvili
President of the Association of Evangelical Faith Christians of
Georgia
Rauli Khvedelidze
Pastor Gocha Chanturia
Pastor Goderdzi Todadze
--
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