Thursday, September 11, 2008

Euro Line conducts Batumi-Minsk flights

Euro Line has begun to conduct flights from Batumi to Minsk from today, September 11, Irakli Khurashvili, Head of the company’s Public Relations Service has declared. The flights will be made by TU-134 aircraft once a week.

Euro Line is also introducing flights to Kiev, Kharkov and Odessa. From October 1 direct fight from Tbilisi and Batumi to Istanbul will also be conducted.

Two die in prison hospital

Two prisoners have died in the Tbilisi Prison Hospital, the media service of the Prisons Department has announced.

Prisoner Lova B. had been diagnosed with tuberculosis of the left lung, acute intestinal infection and chronic Hepatitis C. Doctors believe he died of acute shortage of breath and an occlusion of the vascular system. Lova B. had been sentenced to eight years imprisonment for attempted murder on July 17, 2001. Prisoner Vakhtang L. had been diagnosed with a IV class, IV group lymphoma. Doctors believe he also died of an acute vascular occlusion. Vakhtang L. had been sentenced to six years imprisonment on April 25, 2005 for gang activity and opposing law enforcers.

Parliament once again discusses unification of offices

On September 11 Parliament restarted discussions on unifying the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Justice. This matter was originally raised during the spring session. According to the proposal under discussion, the Prosecutor General’s Office will become a department of the Ministry of Justice, and the head of the unified entity will be the Justice Minister.

The opposition has criticized the project, saying that there would be less public control over a united entity. On September 9 it was decided that the commission will gather once more before discussing the project as a result of the comments made by the opposition and other positions which have been presented.

French court to deny Irakli Okruashvili’s extradition

The highest court in Paris has denied Georgia’s request to extradite Irakli Okruashvili and this decision is final.
Okruashvili was granted political asylum in France in April 2008. His French lawyers called the decision of the French court a triumph of justice. The court took into the consideration the fact that if Okruashvili was returned to Georgia he would be persecuted, lawyer Louis-Marie de Roux said.
Okruashvili himself stressed that there is no justice in Georgia, and Georgia’s current regime is irresponsible. “Justice in Georgia has become the part of the repression mechanism,” he said, adding that he is ready to continue fighting to release Georgia from irresponsible Government.
Tbilisi’s city court sentenced Okruashvili to 11 years imprisonment on March 28 2008.

Tbilisi Water cleans the Mtkvari

One of the priorities of Tbilisi Water is to protect the condition of the river Mtkvari from inflowing polluted water. To achieve this, the company is attempting to rehabilitate old, damaged sewerage system units. Tbilisi Water technical and sewerage teams devised a relevant project and the company has already started to implement it, upgrading the system with modern equipment and mechanisms.
The Tbilisi sewerage system is more than a century old but almost totally shock-proof. As a result of the rehabilitation, the River Mtkvari will be significantly protected from faecal waters and the population living along the river will see the difference.

Refugee health issues discussed at Parliamentary Healthcare Committee session

High levels of anxiety, worry, memory loss and sleep deprivation, despondency, a feeling of hopelessness, aggressiveness and excitability were conditions detected among refugees from the Georgia-Russia conflict, Nino Makharashvili, head of the organization “Global Initiative Psychiatry,” told the Parliamentary Healthcare Committee session. Children present a similar range of problems, such as regressive behaviour, nightmares and tension, she said. This is the fifth time the Healthcare Committee discussed the issue.

Healthcare Committee Chairman Otar Toidze positively assessed the conducted work. He told journalists that good results were being achieved and the most important thing was to get people back to their normal condition.

Families of Georgian hostages meet Vice-Speaker Mikheil Machavariani

The population of Speti, Sachkhere region, held a protest in front of the Parliament building demanding the release of hostages, and were met by Vice-Speaker Mikheil Machavariani. A Presidential Administration representative also indicated that they would meet the relatives of the hostages.

According to Sachkhere Parliamentary Deputy Soso Kutateladze, armed Ossetians kidnapped 4 young people, Imeda Tabatadze, Roman Kimadze, Alik Kimadze and Gia Guliashvili, four days ago. One of them has heart disease. According to current information, the four were taken from the Dzirula Gorge where they were gathering wood. Speti is near Perevi, which is still occupied by the Russians.

Orthodox Christendom marks the Beheading of St. John the Forerunner

On September 11, Orthodox Christendom celebrated the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, the prophet and forerunner of Jesus Christ who was sent by the Lord to pave the way for the arrival of his Son.

According to the Gospel, King Herod Antipas jailed Saint John for condemning his marriage to Herodias, his bother Philip’s wife. Although Herod himself John's authority and the significance of his following, and therefore did not intend to do John further harm, Herod's bloodthirsty wife had other ideas, and persuaded her daughter Salome to trick Herod. At a party for Herod, Salome danced so beautifully that a drunken Herod offered her anything she wanted as a reward. She asked for John's head on a silver platter, so John was beheaded.