Page 9 - GEORptMar20

Ugulava.
“Gigi Ugulava, leader of European Georgia, was arrested today and sentenced to 38 months in prison for an old crime he’s already served time over. To say this is disturbing would be an understatement. Using courts as a weapon is NOT democracy,” Adam Kinzinger has tweeted.
2.5​ ​Abkhaz opposition leader returns from Russia as frontrunner in leadership election re-run
The opposition leader of the self-proclaimed breakaway Georgian region Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, has returned home from Russia and will run in the so-called presidential election scheduled for March 22, Inter Press News reported.
And he will probably win, given that resigned leader of the separatist territory, Raul Khajimba, has indirectly​ ​announced​ that he will not take part following the public protests that resulted in him being overthrown.
Last year, Bzhania was considered one of the favourites due to run in a contest initially scheduled for June 21. The​ ​alleged poisoning​ ​of Bzhania (never proven) prior to the poll resulted in its postponement until November. The vote was then won by incumbent Khajimba, but the victory was obtained with the perpetration of fraud, the opposition, which holds a robust majority in the parliament (not recognised by Tbilisi, just as all elections in the territory aren’t), alleged.
Russian formal and informal representatives are clearly supervising the ongoing power transition.
Rashid Nurgaliev, deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, organised and attended a meeting between Khajimba and his rivals on January 11. Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov visited the capital of Abkhazia, Sokhumi, and met Khajimba’s rivals one day later. At that point, Khajimba was set to announce a state of emergency in the breakaway republic, but he changed his plans overnight and resigned.
Khajimba surprisingly refused to meet Surkov, according to claims reported by Georgia Today.
Surkov, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin, is a key strategic counsellor in shaping Kremlin policy towards Abkhazia, fellow Georgian breakaway territory South Ossetia and pro-Russian regimes in Eastern Ukraine.
The storming of the presidential building on January 9 sparked the crisis situation that resulted in his resignation. It was organised by Akhra Avidzba, who from 2014 to 2016 headed the illegal armed group Pyatnashka in eastern Ukraine fighting against the Ukrainian army, according to​ ​UAwire.org​.
Before his arrival in Abkhazia on January 9, Bzhania underwent lengthy medical treatment in Russia due to a sharp deterioration of health, which his supporters linked to the claimed poisoning. He returned to Sokhumi on January 9.
On January 12, Surkov landed in Sokhumi to settle the rising tensions that had turned acute.
9​ GEORGIA Country Report​ March 2020 ​​www.intellinews.com