By empty (4/19/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Georgian Sugar General Director Tengiz Gogichashvili, who was elected to the Georgian parliament on 28 March on the list of the opposition Industrialists-New Rightists bloc, was stripped of his parliamentary immunity on 17 April at the request of the Prosecutor-General\'s Office, which suspected him of failing to pay 89,000 laris ($43,790) in value-added taxes. Leaders of the bloc denounced that ruling at a press conference the same day, accusing the authorities of staging \"a cheap show\" to distract public attention from their own failures. On 19 April, Gogichashvili agreed to pay some 233,500 laris to the state budget in order to avoid being remanded in custody; he continues to deny the charges against him.

By empty (4/19/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Vano Zodelava was dismissed without prior warning on 19 April from the post of mayor of Tbilisi that he has held for several years. Zodelava said he will not retire, but continue his engagement in politics and may run for the post of Tbilisi mayor if that office becomes elective. Also on 19 April, President Mikheil Saakashvili named former Central Election Commission Chairman Zurab Chiaberashvili to succeed Zodelava, giving him six months to demonstrate his competence in that post by, among other things, halting illegal construction, installing new traffic lights, and introducing a cheaper municipal bus system.

By empty (4/19/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The United States believes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, U.S. diplomat Stephen Mann, who was appointed in early April as co-chair of the group, told a news conference in Yerevan on Monday.