24 April 2004, 15:00
Kutaisi mayor resigns
Nugzar Paliani, mayor of the largest city in Western Georgia, Kutaisi, resigned yesterday, April 23. He announced it himself at a session of the Kutaisi legislative assembly.
The question of Paliani's resignation from the post of the Kutaisi mayor was brought up as early as December 2003. Then the local anticorruption council accused Paliani of not taking active steps to struggle against corruption and declared against his being the mayor. A number of non-governmental organizations working in Kutaisi staged regular protest actions during the last month demanding that he resign. Several activists went on a hunger-strike in the waiting room of the city mayor's office on April 19.
Editors note: See also the article "NGOs demand dismissal of Kutaisi mayor".
Source: RIA Novosti