facebook.com/ georgiatoday Issue no: 867 • AUGUST 5 - 8, 2016 • PUBLISHED TWICE WEEKLY PRICE: GEL 2.50 In this week’s issue... Georgian Dream Accuses Opposition of Meddling in Constitutional Court NEWS PAGE 2 The Russian Principle: What is Mine is Mine, What is Yours Can Be Discussed FOCUS ON THE MOD Former Minister of Defense Tinatin Khidasheli discusses her replacement and her POLITICS PAGE 4 achievements to date PAGE 5 ORBI Group Project Gains World Recognition Three White Lion Cubs Born at Tbilisi Zoo BUSINESS PAGE 10 BY TAMAR SVANIDZE Safe and Healthy – Tusheti Greets First Emergency Car bilisi Zoo on Tuesday welcomed the birth of SOCIETY PAGE 15 three rare white lion cubs, the Zoo’s Face- Georgian Filmmakers against book page announced Twhile posting pictures of the new- National Film Center System borns. According to a press release, this is a fi rst addition to the zoo’s big cat family following a devastating fl ash fl ood in June 2015 that left most of the zoo’s animal inhabitants dead and destroyed the lower portion of the park. CULTURE PAGE 17 The zoo’s announced via Facebook that Cleopatra, a female African lion, WHERE to Go, Stay, Eat, and her three newborn cubs were all healthy and have recovered. Drink and Buy in August Continued on page 2 CULTURE PAGE 19 GEORGIA TODAY 2 NEWS AUGUST 5 - 8, 2016 Massive Explosion Wounds Georgian Dream At Least 12 in Restive Accuses Opposition Dagestan Region of Meddling in Constitutional Court ing the Constitutional Court started on July 21 when BY THEA MORRISON the Court Chair, Giorgi Papuashvili staid certain judges were being pressured in order to make them rule out in favor of government. embers of the ruling Georgian The Prosecutor General’s offi ce launched an Dream (GD) coalition have immediate investigation into the incident and ques- accused the main opposition tioned each member of the nine-seat court. United National Movement According to a report earlier this week, all of the (UNM) party of former President judges who were questioned deny that they are MMikheil Saakashvili of colluding with sitting mem- being pressured. bers of the judiciary to change the country’s Con- In late July, fi ve judges of the Court released a stitution. letter that accused Papuashvili of trying to speed dition, and we plan to transfer them to burn “These are secret relations, but the UNM’s plot up politically connected rulings and not giving BY NICHOLAS WALLER centers in Moscow," Kavkaz-uzel quoted Dag- to infl uence the court will not come true,” GD Chair judges enough time to properly consider certain estan’s Health Minister Tank Ibragimov in the Gia Volski said while accusing the UNM of illegally high-profi le cases. hours after the explosion. attempting to change the constitution. According to Parliament Speaker and leader of massive explosion at a hospital in The cause of both explosions remains unknown, Volski and the Head of the Parliamentary Human the opposition Republican Party, David Usupash- Russia’s restive North Caucasus though the possibility that both were acts of ter- Rights Committee, Eka Beselia held a vili, the Constitutional Court is undergoing a major republic of Dagestan wounded at ror remains high. press conference on August 3, saying crisis. least a dozen people, news portal Dagestan, a Scotland-sized Muslim republic in the situation in the Constitutional “I lost hope that something positive might hap- Kavkaz-uzel reported Thursday. Russia’s volatile North Caucasus region, has suf- Court is “extremely diffi cult.” pen in the current Constitutional Court,” Usupash- AAccording to Dagestan’s health ministry, fi ve fered from a low-level by increasingly violent According to Beselia, the investi- vili said. of the 12 injured by the blast are in critical con- anti-Moscow insurgency since the late 1990s. gation will show that members of He added that the Court needs new appointments dition. Much like neighboring Chechnya, elements of the UNM put pressure on consti- to the bench before the current group’s The incident comes only three days after a huge Dagestan’s society have taken up arms against tutional court judges to overlook term expires in September. explosion caused by a gas leak at a banquet hall direct rule from Moscow. politically connected cases. in the regional capital Makhachkala left 27 peo- While initially less active than their Chechen None of the judges involved ple seriously injured. counterparts, the insurgency in Dagestan has in the investigation have The victims of Thursday’s blast reportedly grown in recent years as rebel fi ghters and Islamic responded to the accu- include two 14-year-old schoolgirls, who suffered militants from Chechnya, Ingushetia and Geor- sations. severe burns on most of their bodies. gia’s Pankisi Gorge have joined forces to fi ght The scandal involv- "At this point, the patients are in critical con- the local Russian-backed authorities. Three White Lion Cubs Born at Tbilisi Zoo Continued from page 1 albino lion family, the zoo’s main attraction is Begi the Hippo, who gained international fame as he “Currently, the newborn babies are being kept roamed through the streets of central Tbilisi in a in a closed cage and away from the public so they daze after last year’s fl ood washed away his enclo- can adapt to the calm environment. Their mother sure. will most likely let them out in the coming days, European zoos have donated new animals to the and everyone will have a chance to come and see zoo, including wildebeests, mongoose and por- them for the fi rst time,” the zoo’s Facebook page cupines, to help rehabilitate and repopulate the said in its announcement. number of residents at the park. The cubs have yet to be named by the zookeepers as they are still waiting to determine all of the gen- ders of the litter. In addi- tion to the GEORGIA TODAY AUGUST 5 - 8, 2016 NEWS 3 Activist Group Has Enough Signatures for Referendum Photo: Mikhail Metzek/TASS on Defi ning Marriage Russia’s Putin to Visit Baku for Talks BY THEA MORRISON with Azeri, Iranian Presidents two decades. BY NICHOLAS WALLER Russia is Armenia’s closest political fter validating more than and economic ally, with huge swathes 200,000 signatures gath- of the Armenian economy controlled ered by a conservative ussian President Vladimir by Kremlin-connected businesses. activist group, Georgia’s Putin is to visit Azerbaijan’s Yerevan joined the Russian-led Eura- Central Election Commis- capital Baku for talks with sian Customs Union in January 2015, Asion of Georgia (CEC) approved a motion Azeri President Ilham Ali- thinking the economic, military and to hold a referendum on defi ning mar- yev and Iranian President diplomatic cover Moscow would pro- riage as a union of a man and a woman RHassan Rouhani, the Kremlin announced vide the small Christian nation of 3 in the Georgian Constitution. on its offi cial website Thursday. million with solid security guarantees The group wants a referendum to be not put to a vote in May during its fi rst tion that marriage is a voluntary union Putin’s visit came at the personal invi- against its historic Muslim arch-rivals held simultaneously with parliamentary reading due to a lack of quorum in Par- of a man and woman and the State. This tation of Aliyev, who has in recent years Turkey and Azerbaijan. elections scheduled for October 8. liament. is the position of the current govern- tried to forge closer economic and Russia, however, infuriated Armenia The conservative group has proposed The referendum issue was met with a ment,” Beselia said. military ties with Moscow. after it sold billions of dollars’ worth of a single question vote that will ask those lukewarm response by sitting parliamen- According to legal expert Vakhushti The three leaders will discuss current highly sophisticated weaponry to Azer- going to the polls if they agree that mar- tarians and opposition party leaders. Menabde, a referendum cannot be held issues on the international and regional baijan in the run-up to a four-day con- riage should be defi ned as a union between Parties opposed to the Georgian Dream as it contradicts the standards of the political agenda and prospects for estab- fl ict in Nagorno-Karabakh in April. a man and woman for the purpose of have publicly stated they think the issue Constitution. lishing practical cooperation, particu- The clashes, the worst in 20 years, left starting a family. was initially raised in order to cover up “Existing laws strictly forbid referen- larly in energy and transport. hundreds dead and wounded; with The CEC registered the request of the issues that are plaguing the country and dums to be held with the purpose of According to Russia’s state-run news Azerbaijan in control of territory previ- group and sent their recommendation the ruling coalition before the October changing the Constitution. Only the agency ITAR-TASS, the three sides will ously held by ethnic Armenian forces to Georgian President Giorgi Margve- elections. parliament can make amendments to specifi cally discuss the future North- since the end of hostilities in 1994. lashvili. Following its registration, Marg- The Georgian Dream fl atly reject the the Constitution,” Menabde said. South transportation corridor, which Russia has historically been the main velashvili has a month to approve the accusations, saying they fully support According to Article 36 of the Georgian will connect Northern Europe and mediator between Azerbaijan and Arme- bid, which then has to be approved and the idea of defi ning marriage along tra- Constitution, marriage is defi ned as being South-East Asia via existing railway nia, and Putin’s visit will likely catch signed by Prime Minister Giorgi Kviri- ditional social lines.