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“I ask the United National Movement to create a party board in the coming days and consider my candidacy for the post of chairman of the board, and also elect Sopho Japaridze as my deputy,” writes ex-President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili on his Facebook page.According to him, he is ready to participate more actively in political processes.“At a turning point for the country, the main task of our proud, strong people is unity. As an individual and regional leader, I am ready to do everything for this unity. First of all, unity means a common list for elections. All major pro-European powers delegate their representatives to this common list on a parity basis. The election number can be chosen randomly. According to our calculations, in the case of a single list, the opposition will defeat “Dream” with a ratio of 70/30. Then a transitional government should be formed, staffed by strong specialists who are actually in the country and at the same time not at the forefront of politics at this stage.The opposition and civil society must now agree on changes in the court, the principles of de-oligarchization and a future consensus presidential candidate. As for the United National Movement, we must continue and deepen relations and cooperation with social and other political forces, we must put forward many new faces and put forward new ideas. Although the regime is still isolating me and preparing new repressions. I’m ready to get involved even more actively and overcome all artificial obstacles. In this regard, I ask the United National Movement to create a party board in the coming days and consider my candidacy for the post of chairman of the board and elect Sofo Japaridze as my deputy,” wrote Mikheil Saakashvili.According to him, Sopho Japaridze, “as a leading force among politicians of the new generation,” will become a very important new leader of the United National Movement.“Sopho has recently become a leading and driving force among the new generation of politicians. She will be a very important new leader for the United National Movement; with her fearlessness, sociability, and tirelessness, she will be able to work for unity together with the existing leadership of the party. Also, I personally think that it would be good if she was number one among the delegates,” writes Mikheil Saakashvili.

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The de facto leader of Tskhinvali, Alan Gagloev, dismissed the so-called Minister of Defense Marat Pavlov. Echo of the Caucasus reports this.Acting so-called Pavlov's deputy, Inal Sabanov, was appointed Minister of Defense. The reason for the personnel changes is not stated.Marat Pavlov has served as the de facto Minister of Defense of South Ossetia since August 2022.

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Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili vetoed amendments to the Electoral Code, which provide for the abolition of quotas for women on party lists in parliamentary elections.“We have received a veto, which we will forward to the Judiciary Committee. Accordingly, the committee will consider it at the next meeting,” said the speaker of the legislative body, Shalva Papuashvili.Previously, parliament abolished the mechanism under which every four candidates on party lists must have at least one woman. The decision was supported by 85 deputies, 22 voted against.The opposition party “Girchi” came up with the initiative to abolish gender quotas. The bill was supported by the ruling Georgian Dream party.

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The Parliament of Georgia approved the bill “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” in the first reading.The document was supported by 83 deputies, no one voted against. The opposition did not participate in the voting.Georgia's international partners are calling on Tbilisi to refuse to approve the bill that has been reintroduced to parliament. Last year, the document was withdrawn after two days of mass protests and clashes between demonstrators and security forces.Critics consider the bill to be an analogue of the legislation on “foreign agents” adopted in Russia in 2012. Georgian authorities say that the proposed bill has nothing in common with Russian law.According to the Georgian bill, organizations carrying out the interests of foreign power are: non-profit legal entities; broadcasters; owners of media outlets that source more than 20% of their total income during a calendar year from a “foreign power.”NGOs and media are obliged to apply themselves through the House of Justice to the National Agency of Public Registry with an application for registration as an organization promoting the interests of a foreign power.Evasion of registration or failure to submit a financial declaration within the established time limits entails a fine of GEL 25,000.If the organization does not eliminate omissions in the documents, it will be fined 10 thousand lari; for repeated violation - 20 thousand lari.

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“First of all, I would like to address the creators of the “no to the Russian law” campaign: This campaign is fake, first of all, because it is groundless and the myth about the Russian nature of the law cannot be proven! It is even more fake because it is being carried out by so-called politicians trained in serving Russian interests. I would also like to address those people who are sincerely worried about Georgia’s European future and who have been ceaselessly blackmailed over the past two weeks: Do not believe the concerns of those people who turned their backs on their own homeland at a time of the utmost historic significance and went from door to door in Brussels, trying to convince people not to grant Georgia candidate status; this, rather than demanding transparency, is what serves Russian interests. Let no one think that I am trying to blame something on someone – they themselves admitted this! To this day, they regret that they missed a historic opportunity and failed to achieve results. Because we did not allow them to do so! Because we spared no effort to mitigate their insidiousness and fight for the truth! Do not believe the representatives of those organizations that spend their funding to write, in as academic a manner as possible, why our country did not deserve EU candidacy together with Ukraine and Moldova! These are the people who assessed their homeland more harshly than the toughest arbiter of all – the report of the European Commission! These are the people who stooped so low as to include Georgia in the category of laggards in the ratings that they themselves created. Do not be deceived by the suggestion that this law will declare friends as enemies! It is no secret that we are not in the habit of being ungrateful, and the Prime Minister of Georgia confirmed this during his visit to Germany. To ensure a better future for this country and its people, it is necessary to know how even our partners’ funds are spent in Georgia and how they contribute to Georgia's genuinely European path. I cannot help but address yesterday’s anti-hero: Aleko Elisashvili, tell the public how much your so-called pro-European behavior in the Parliament of Georgia yesterday cost. Even if they show the video of your fistfight in space, let alone on CNN, and make you popular there, in this city you will still remain how you have always been known by the majority of the public!Now, a few words about transparency itself: There is a lot of talk among member states of the European Union about the need to protect democracy and about the need for transparency of persons and organizations involved in the political decision-making process. Having access to information is deemed a legitimate right of citizens. Why do you deny Georgian citizens the same?In our reality, why should the organizations that participate in political life and often shape or exacerbate the political landscape hide the goals of their activities and the sources of their funding from the public?Finally, now it is in the authorities’ best interest to sit down at the negotiating table with the European Union in a timely manner.One of the preconditions for this was defined in the nine steps and involves the successful conduct of the elections.It has been demonstrated more than once that you are not interested in the elections, and given the latest ratings, I understand very well that you have lost all hope and are, once again, looking to revolutionary scenarios for success.No matter how much you bully us, no matter how you try to fight against the state, you will not be able to Russianize our European dream, the true Georgian dream.The fight to bring Georgia to EU membership has started and we will definitely see it through to the end“, - Georgian MP Maka Bochorishvili said. 

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At a meeting of the Legal Committee of the Georgian Parliament, the leader of the Citizens party, Aleko Elisashvili, got into a fight with the representative of the parliamentary majority, one of the leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Mamuka Mdinaradze.During a discussion on “Transparency of Foreign Influence,” Elisashvili approached Mamuka Mdinaradze, who was standing behind the podium, and punched him in the face.The broadcast of the meeting was interrupted, after which the fight between the deputies continued.After a few minutes the committee meeting resumed. Mamuka Mdinaradze called Elisashvili’s behavior a vile provocation and called on his colleagues to remain calm.

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At a meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs of the Parliament of Georgia, a discussion began on the bill “On Transparency of Foreign Influence.” The committee meeting is broadcast live.The meeting is taking place under restrictions imposed by parliament. In particular, the building of the legislative body is at a “yellow” level of security; among media representatives, only journalists from television companies were allowed into parliament.Deputies discuss the law against the backdrop of a rally by representatives of non-governmental organizations and the media. Participants of the rally “No to Russian law!” gathered at the entrance to the parliament building. Law enforcement officers have been mobilized on the spot.

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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Sunday offered the Ambassadors of the United States of America, European Union and EU Member States to hold public discussions on Draft Law of Georgia on Transparency of Foreign Influence. Below is the PM’s full statement:“Georgia cherishes and safeguards relations with partner countries. By taking into consideration the main priority of our foreign policy – EU integration – cooperation with high-ranking officials of the United States of America, European Union and EU Member States, inter ala including the ambassadors and exchange of ideas is a profound priority for us. We value every supportive step and statement of current ambassadors that are directed at solidifying the international positions of Georgia. Thus, every grounded advice and recommendation will further be accepted with special attention and care.In line with the practice introduced in recent years in Georgia, foreign diplomats continue to be actively engaged in the current political debates held within the country. Particularly intense are their attempts to assume the function of lawmakers in the country and to take active part in the legislative process thereby indicating to the supreme body of representative democracy – parliament elected by the Georgian people – which law to be passed and which not. Irrespective of the fact that this practice of acting as a substitute to a political opposition does not meet the standards of diplomacy, we may treat it with certain understanding by taking into account the scarcity of political and intellectual resources of the opposition.Nevertheless, we cannot be understanding of the similarly widely-spread practice, whereby foreign diplomats fail to respond to our arguments with theirs behind closed doors, still making groundless political statements in public spaces.During the past days, we have heard critical statements of several foreign diplomats in relation to the Draft Law of Georgia on Transparency of Foreign Influence. Similar to the messages of our political opponents, these statements lacked any and all arguments and justification. I believe that transparency and publicity are the best solution to malpractices. Ungrounded criticism, which we often hear from foreign diplomats, gets generalised to their respective countries by the society, which poses serious risks. Georgian society should be aided in maintaining trust towards partner countries, which is our duty and responsibility to care about.Ambassadors periodically request meetings in a closed format. We never refused to meet and remain happily available for closed meetings in future as well.Nevertheless, as the transparency-deprived political discussion about the Draft Law of Georgia on Transparency of Foreign Influence harms the trust of Georgian society towards our partner countries, we offer the Ambassadors of the United States of America, European Union and EU Member States to hold public discussions on the referred draft law. I am confident that with a live broadcasting of a substantial discussion between the leaders of the Georgian authorities and ambassadors, a much clearer understanding will come to exist in the Georgian society about the essence of the draft law and its necessity of its passing for the protection of state sovereignty”, - said Kobakhidze.

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The President of Georgia announced that she would pardon activist Lazare Grigoriadis. Salome Zurabishvili spoke about this in an interview with the Pirveli television company.According to Zurabishvili, she made the decision on April 12. The decree has not yet been signed.Grigoriadis could be released within a few hours or days, the president clarified.Grigoriadis is a participant in protests on March 7-9, 2023 against the adoption of the law on “foreign agents.” He was accused of violence against police officers and setting fire to a car belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The court sentenced Grigoriadis to 9 years in prison.

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An official meeting ceremony between the head of the Georgian government, Irakli Kobakhidze, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz took place in Germany.At the end of the face-to-face meeting, at a joint press conference, Scholz announced the need to continue judicial reform in Georgia:“Germany has been and remains a supporter of Georgia and its European perspective, so we organized many meetings and always campaigned for candidate status, and we achieved this. Of course, we cannot stop there. There is a very long list of things that still need to be done. You know these criteria, they are necessary for the legal regime associated with Europe. We will be an active partner for Georgia so that it can succeed as quickly as possible on its path to Europe, on the path to fulfilling the necessary criteria for this,” Scholz said.As it turned out, representatives of the two countries also spoke on the topic of the bill “on foreign agents” initiated in Georgia; Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told reporters about this after a joint briefing:“As I already said, the law on transparency is fully consistent with legal principles. We are open and ready to have this discussion with our European, American or local Georgian partners, our positions are very firm. The only thing that the bill provides for is the annual disclosure of finances by non-governmental organizations. No one can argue that disclosure of finances can have a negative impact on the activities of this or that organization... I repeat, there is no alternative to transparency in a democratic society,” Kobakhidze said.After the face-to-face meeting of representatives of the two countries, negotiations will continue in an expanded format, with the participation of members of the governments of the two countries, the Government Administration reports.The Georgian delegation also includes Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Irakli Chikovani, Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili and head of the government administration Levan Zhorzholiani.

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Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze went on an official visit to Germany. He will hold talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Bundestag President Berbel Bas.The Georgian delegation includes Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Irakli Chikovani, Foreign Minister Ilya Darchiashvili and head of the government administration Levan Zhorzholiani.

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Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze commented on the decision of the European Court of Human Rights on the interstate lawsuit “Georgia versus Russia”.“Georgia won an important victory in the Strasbourg court. The European Court held Russia fully responsible for the massive harassment, detention and restriction of freedom of movement of the Georgian population in the occupied territories and along the line of occupation. Once again it was confirmed at the highest legal level that it is Russia that is responsible for actions that do not comply with the European Convention, which is manifested in the so-called borderization and the ongoing violation of human rights. The decision of the European Court once again clearly emphasized the territorial integrity of Georgia and strengthened the sovereignty of our country,” the prime minister said in a statement.Kobakhidze expressed gratitude to government departments - the Ministry of Justice, the State Security Service, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.The ECHR unanimously ruled that Russia violated seven articles of the European Convention on Human Rights.The Strasbourg court talks, for example, about the death of seven ethnic Georgians, residents of Abkhazia, while trying to cross the administrative border by alternative routes to receive a pension or medicine. In addition, referring to international reports, he indicates that the Russian language gradually replaced teaching in the Georgian language in Abkhaz and South Ossetian schools.The claim was sent by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia to the ECHR on August 21, 2018. It spoke of “massive harassment of the Georgian population,” as well as “administrative practices of detentions, attacks and murders” in territories not controlled by the central authorities of Georgia and along the administrative borders. They were talking, in particular, about the deaths of Archil Tatunashvili, Giga Otkhozoria and David Basharuli.