Mtisambebi filed a lawsuit against the National Environmental Agency in the Tbilisi City Court due to the non-provision of requested public information regarding the Shovi disaster.

For three months, the National Environmental Agency has been withholding records from Mtisambebi regarding the floods that occurred in Shovi Resort in 2017, 2020, and 2023:

- What measures did the agency implement for the identification, research, threat assessment, and management of cataclysms?

- In the case of each natural event, did it communicate between agencies, when, in what form, and with which agencies? What recommendations have been issued to the state bodies;

- How much money has been spent since 2013 on the implementation and management of early warning and emergency notification systems in Georgia;

- Mountain Stories is demanding the transfer of documents from the agency in full.

The law obliges the Environmental Agency to provide the requested materials to Mtisambebi within 10 days of request.

Mtisambebi tried to get answers from the head of the National Environmental Agency, however, on October 19,

At the planned meeting in Oni, Vasil Gedevanishvili, together with other civil servants, locked themselves in the building of the Council and called the police to prevent the journalist from entering the building of the administrative body.

The officials were personally guarded by the police chief of Oni along with more than ten policemen.

This is the third lawsuit that Mtisambebi filed against the National Environmental Agency. For almost a year, the Agency has been withholding public records confirming severe levels of air pollution as a result of manganese mining in the villages of Chiatura.

This is the third lawsuit that Mtisambebi filed against the National Environmental Agency. For almost a year, the Agency has been withholding public records confirming severe levels of air pollution as a result of manganese mining in the villages of Chiatura. Another legal dispute that Mountain Stories has with the agency is related to the transfer of Racha and Kvemo Svaneti forests to Davit Khidasheli, a partner of a Russian oligarch. As of now, the agency keeps hiding some important documents in the case and does not hand them over to us. From April 2022 to October 2023, Mountain Stories submitted 11 administrative complaints to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture. The Ministry of Environmental Protection is one of the most closed-off agencies.

Georgian News
Georgian News
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