Georgian media on Ugulava's arrest and Shevarnadze's death

One of the main events of last week was the arrest of former mayor of Tbilisi and member of the opposition United National Movement party Gigi Ugulava. The politician was detained on July 3rd at Tbilisi Airport.

The former Mayor of Tbilisi and the leader of the United Movement Party, Gigi Ugulava, faces imprisonment for up to 11 years if convicted of the large-scale embezzlement charges for which he is standing trial. “The charge that they gave me is an effort to rescue the politically-dead Narmania,” Ugulava said after leaving the Finance Ministry’s Investigative Service on June 30. The ex-Mayor has labeled the charges brought against him “absurd,” an article by Nino Sharashidze published by Georgia Today reads.

"David Narmania, the Georgian Dream candidate who was running for mayor of the capital city, is preparing for the second round, where his rival is UNM Party candidate, Nick Melia. The leaders of the UNM party have responded to the allegations against the former mayor and assessed it as political persecution," the author writes.

"The former Mayor is accused of misappropriating large amounts of money belonging to the state budget. The ex-Tbilisi Mayor was alleged to have used his official position to give advantage to C.T. Park, spending state funds unreasonably to increase the company’s income," the article reads.

"On July 2, Tbilisi city court judge Arsen Kalatozishvili rejected the prosecution’s motion to fine the former Mayor 50,000 laris, as well as confiscating his ID and passport. The judge did not use any preventive measures," the author informs.

News-Georgia has published an article devoted to former Georgian president and Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevarnadze. According to the authors, Shevarnadze was a controversial figure in Georgian history.

"Like any influential politician he was a remarkable person, whose heritage is much more complicated than it may seem. Shevarnadze himself believed that he contributed much to the reunification of Germany and the end of the Cold War. At the same time, many insist that under his leadership of the Foreign Ministry the Soviet Union became much weaker as a state. As Georgian president he started the war with Abkhazia, which led to the republic's breakaway and the flight of thousands of refugees," the article reads.

"One can say that he followed Margaret Thatcher, who was much more popular abroad than in her own country," the authors conclude.