Good news is coming out of Tbilisi, Georgia, as techno club and institution BASSIANI has informed that the club is back in the control of its owners and that the government has ceased the investigations that resulted in the club being closed and held hostage just over a week ago.
Today, owners Tato Getia and Zviad Gelbakhiani have confirmed that the venue is not being held hostage by officials any longer:
“The club is back! We are more than happy, we’re inside the club!” (via Imedi News)
This welcome news comes after just over a week of tense moments for the club and the entire nightlife community in Georgia’s capital and beyond, as government officials conducted biased investigations following the May 12th police raids that shut down BASSIANI.
Earlier this week co-founder Tato Getia had informed Resident Advisor of the club’s uncertain future, stating that the club was looking at imminent and permanent closure:
“If they won’t give us the club back in the first week of June, we will be forced to close. We cannot cancel so many events, we cannot hold the financial operations, we can’t be in this mode forever. … After the first meeting with minister, they said we’d have the club back in one week. After that, they said two or three weeks. Then they said another two or three weeks, in order to say they’re still holding an investigation. If they continue like this, we can’t do it. … It will be a political thing. We will say we closed because there’s no point in doing business in this country.”
H/T: Resident Advisor
