Violations and Discrimination Against the Citizens of Abkhazia

 OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights  
 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2012

3 October Working  Session 14 Tolerance and Non- Discrimination II

We do appreciate that today we have an opportunity to tell the Participating States’ representatives about discrimination against the citizens of Abkhazia. Because of the shortage of time it is not that easy to express many things but I would like to bring to your attention the Georgian so – called”Law on occupied territories” adopted by the Georgian parliament in October 2008 as a true example of discrimination against the peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and those who would like to visit our countries too.

The law regulates and restricts contacts between the outside community and Abkhazia and South Ossetia.Foreigners are allowed to enter our states only from the Georgian side and are liable to criminal punishment for violations. Such a discriminatory law isolates the people of Abkhazia from the whole world and violates the right to a dignified life and development. The Law contradicts the Georgian international engagements, and deteriorates humanitarian situation and causes unnecessary hardship as it was mentioned in the ‘Opinion on the Law on Occupied Territories of Georgia of the Venice Commission” adopted in  Strasbourg, 2009. But yet no one in Georgia pays special attention to the respective Opinion of the Venice Commission.  I can't help emphasizing that the impertinent expression "occupied territories”. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are not occupied by the Russian Federation. Russian military bases have been located in the borders between Abkhazia and Georgia as well as South Ossetia and Georgia, according to the agreements signed between the countries. Calling “occupied territories”, Georgian officials never mention that Abkhazia and South Ossetia were gifted to the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic by the USSR’s Communist leader Josef Stalin, Georgian national by his origin.

Tbilisi opposes the resumption of the work of the Sukhum airport. The railway functions only within Abkhazia's borders or only to Russia. The seaports are closed for passenger boats, and Abkhaz boats could not leave the port to bring goods from Turkey.

Obtaining of visas for the citizens of Abkhazia is complicated and mostly impossible. For example visas have been denied even when people apply on medical grounds, which seem utterly unjust and unheard of in our time. And this we face at the time when freer movement is considered crucial for the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The Abkhaz students are denied the possibility to get education in Europe or the USA. It is also impossible for them as for the  scholars to participate in the conferences and international forums in which they could get a chance to tell the international community about  their views and opinions on a wide range of issues that maybe interesting for others. Then I would like to ask you about what kind of pluralism we are speaking here then, if such thing happens and as I see not just in regard of the citizens of Abkhazia

Finally I would like to add also that depriving and/or violating the rights of the people(s) of Abkhazia is absolutely incomprehensible and entirely discriminative in the light of the principles declared in the international law.

Human rights are not the exclusive protect of larger nations - they are equal for all, as has been stated in all international covenants, declarations, protocols and resolutions, etc.; every human being has the right to enjoy them, but it seems that nowadays there exists an almost unheard of division whereby some peoples, due to political processes, are exalt highly respected, whereas the others are deemed to be worthy only of blame, accusations and discrimination. Let us recall that Abkhazia suffered a bloody war in 1992-93 and that it was instigated by Georgia; afterward the country has suffered years of blockade imposed on its peoples by the international community; furthermore, even today, after Abkhazia’s  recognition by Russia and some other countries, we are continually warned that our republic will be never recognized by other countries,  which nevertheless lay upon our country (insultingly styled a “territory” ) the obligation to build a highly developed state with truly democratic society - no easy task, even when no war or economic blockade has been imposed on an emergent state.

Just a pair of days ago, regretfully, PACE roughly recommended Russia to reverse the decision of recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.

  Asida Lomiya

“Veresk” Charity Foundation for Disabled and Amputees, Abkhazia

 http://www.osce.org/odihr/94916

Gender Equality in Abkhazia

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 Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights  
Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2012

 Working Session 9: Tolerance and Discrimination I

   Thank you for giving an opportunity to speak  at such honorable meeting.

  I would like to bring to your attention this very important issue of women’s participation in the political life in my country from the point of view of civil society activist and a member of the Association of Women of Abkhazia.

    Women in Abkhazia play very active role in the civil society, though they are not widely presented in governmental structures. The traditional roles of women as mothers and housewives, as well as supporters rather than leaders put obstacles to women’s participation in the political life. Their access to mainstream politics, information and resources is rather restricted, partly due to their socio-economic burdens and responsibilities for supporting their families and communities, but also due to assumptions about their inefficiency in politics, the personality -based and privileged nature of the political environment.

       As it often occurs in other conflict contexts, Abkhazian women faced a variety of insecurities during the violent Abkhaz-Georgian war  in 1992-93 and were primary actors in responding to the conflict, providing family income during the war and especially after when Abkhazia suffered nasty economical sanctions imposed  by the entire world on behalf of Georgia, women actively tried to build  social life and even  set up small enterprises. Nobody then in the government of Tbilisi even took to mind the protection of civilian population and the rights of women and children.

Women also fought as combatants, worked in military hospitals as nurses and doctors, were correspondents on the front and helped refugees to survive. definitely, there were women among those awarded honors and medals. Despite their important roles during and after the war, women find themselves not represented in leadership and decision-making roles in the current political sphere.

Abkhazia has declared itself to be a ‘sovereign, democratic state, which recognizes and guarantees the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Political Rights and other universally recognized international legal acts’.

Being partially recognized Abkhazia is unable to establish foreign relations as a state and the  laws passed by the Abkhaz authorities are yet not recognized by international law and Abkhazia cannot become a party to international agreements. Also Abkhazia received relatively little development or post-conflict rehabilitation assistance, though, after Russia recognized Abkhazia’s independence, it provided considerable economic and financial support. Non-recognition of Abkhazia as an independent state should not be an obstruction in promoting gender equality and the development of a rightful, inclusive, tolerant society, and certainly should not be used to limit opportunities for any section of the population.

Local NGOs effectively lobbied for a law ‘On ensuring equal rights and opportunities for men and women in the Republic of Abkhazia’, which came into force in 2009. It is still too early to anticipate full implementation of such a law, especially  the one which requires a fundamental change in attitudes, behaviors and political culture. Gender equality within Abkhazia’s political framework needs to be addressed through the population and its expectations of women’s roles in public life. NGOs also contributed to the preparation and lobbying for the Law on Access to Information, adopted in 2008, and have been particularly active in lobbying for transparent, free and fair elections and their monitoring, participating in the public organization “League for Honest Elections” with the aim of promoting a more comprising political culture.

Abkhaz women founded civil society organizations to tackle a variety of needs and problems, including the provision of humanitarian assistance, creating livelihoods and advocating for democratic and political reforms. Association of Women of Abkhazia was established by a group of Abkhaz women in Sukhum in March 1999 with a mission to protect the rights of women and strengthen women’s social and political position within society as well as  to improve women’s status and eventually increase the access and representation of women in leadership positions in the broader political field. To this purpose, AWA carries out research programs, raise public awareness and trainings.

However, so far the development of appearance for strong, educated and independent women has occurred in parallel to a decreasing female presence in the Abkhaz decision-making structures. Furthermore, their prevalence in this field has led to compartmentalizing women in this sector, creating hypothesis that “the place” for women’s public voice is in civil society rather than in political leadership.

Women are occupying some prominent positions and are present across the judiciary and parliament. However, Abkhaz experts noted that they are few and that women in power do not always represent women’s interests.

In the early 1990s the Soviet tradition continued and women were still able to enter parliament, but over time this has decreased. Women themselves are not particularly influential or active in political parties and do not look for high level positions. There is just one woman among the current parliamentarians. She yas been  elected as deputy speaker. This is a downturn from the parliament of 1996–2002 when 5 and 3 in 2007 out of 35 deputies were women. In the Sukhum town Assembly, 6 out of 25 members were female but nowadays no female has been elected.  No women have ever been nominated for president in the three presidential elections, although in 2004 and 2011 women stood as candidates for vice-president.

Within government, one of the deputies of a prime - minister is a woman, two out of twelve ministries are headed by women (Labor & Social Development and Justice). Just one woman heading up one of the six state committees, and only two out of nine departments under the Cabinet of Ministers are headed by women (Department for Statistics and the Department for Building & Architecture). Of eight state funds, two are headed by women (fund for the development of Abkhaz language, and the medical insurance fund). The official information agency, Apsnypress, is also headed by a woman.  It is important to bear in mind that statistics do not significantly reflect the realities and complications of women’s political participation. Women do not naturally represent women’s interests and even where women were present, they were usually not in leadership positions and they do not have such a significant influence.

Sorry to say, Abkhazia is a bit far from reaching a lot of women in public structures and, moreover, the sense of their political participation cannot be measured by statistics. There are significant factors which block women’s number in public office, as traditional roles, stereotypes and women’s status attributing the lack of women decision-makers and political leaders to stereotypes about women’s responsibility as mothers and housewives. The society is accustomed to giving decision-making responsibilities to men and there is a slight tendency for women to be taken less seriously as actors in public life.

      The partially recognized status of Abkhazia means it is problematic for the international community to engage officially on issues relating to women’s political participation in governance of the country. However, this should not discourage the international community from supporting the aim of gender equality in Abkhazia.

Asida Lomiya
 

"Veresk” Charity Foundation for Disabled and Amputees, Abkhazia
 http://www.osce.org/odihr/94677

Language Aspect and National Minorities in Abkhazia.

OSCE  Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights  
 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2012 
2 October 2012, Working Session 12
 Rights of persons belonging to national minorities

As I mentioned in the previous presentations Abkhazia is building  a  democratic state although the circumstances, economic and social conditions, a bitter Abkhaz-Georgian war of 1992-93 and the humanitarian blockade  after it,  the international isolation  made their negative impact on the development of truly democratic processes in the country.

In spite  of the world community's neglect  (except the Russian Federation) the Abkhaz state holds the policy of integration of minorities into the Abkhaz society, and it is actively supported by the civil society which is deeply concerned  with  this very important  and hard matter.

One of the main problems of national minorities if not the most  problematic, is the promotion and respect to their language rights. No one denies that the problem of the language in the state is deeply political and trigger. The Abkhaz authorities fully understand the importance of providing equal opportunities for all ethnicities living today in Abkhazia and feel responsibility to take right measures in this direction in order not to increase any tensions which can be easily achieved by partial and wrong language policy.

People in Abkhazia remember yet the violent policy and terrible methods they  had experienced during  of the worst period of the Soviet time  of the Black Terror implemented  by Josef Stalin and his executioner Beria, both Georgian nationals when all the Abkhaz schools were closed for almost 15 years till Stalin’s death and the Abkhaz children were forced to study in Georgian, which was not their mother’s tongue.  The majority of intelligentsia were killed or repressed and the main state task performed was to georginize Abkhazians through  severe violation  and deprivation of language rights. Moreover the  Abkhaz identity was at threat of  total disappearance. Abkhazians only represented approximately 18% of the population at that time, mainly due to Georgia’s policy of resettling Georgian nationals in ethnic minority areas. The aggressive pursuit of Georgian nationalism after the collapse of Communism further alienated ethnic minorities and strengthened their fight for freedom from Georgia. The consequences of that policy echoes even nowadays as today the Abkhaz children are able to get just a primary education in native language and the Abkhaz.  Though today it is free from Georgian oppression there is a room for concern that it could yield to increasing spread of the Russian because of different reasons. Regretfully Abkhaz language is officially added to the list of endangered languages of UNESCO as it is at risk of falling out of use. Much is to be done to preserve it and prevent from disappearance and maintain as a functioning language, but one must have enough resources for it. The same can be said about South Ossetians.

  As for the other ethnicities and their language rights one should take into consideration that there are various schools of national minorities as Russian, Armenian and Georgian (in Gal region where mostly Georgians/Migrelians  live). No one forbids anyone in Abkhazia freely to use his mother tongue both in private and in public.

As for the language rights violations of Gal residents about which the  Georgian officials like to complain we should emphasize that no one has restricted the education at schools in Gal region in Georgian except the problem of textbooks especially on Geography and History, the content of which is conflict sensitive  and  the Abkhaz authorities suppose  to create new ones. It would be more then nice if the international organizations could  provide assistance in resolving this  complex problem.

Asida Lomiya

 .

“Veresk” Charity Foundation for Disabled and Amputees, Abkhazia

 http://www.osce.org/odihr/94679

National Minorities in Abkhazia

OSCE   Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights  
 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2012
 2 October 2012, Working Session 13:   
 Rights of persons belonging to national minorities

It is clear that effective participation of minorities requires the promotion and implementation of international human rights standards.

In Abkhazia, there is understanding that the attitude to ethnic groups is among basic parameters of the country's development level as a democratic state.

Abkhazia is a multinational country inhabited by Abkhazians, the natives, Georgians, Russians, Armenians, Greeks and other nationalities, however the concern is focused only over Georgian population in Gal.

Armenians and Russians are concentrated in central and northern Abkhazia, the Georgian population is overwhelmingly concentrated in southern district of Gal, bordering Georgia. The vast majority of this population belongs to the Mingrelian subgroup closely related to Georgian. The Gal population consider their mother tongue rather Mingrelian than Georgian, but view themselves both Georgian and Mingrelian identities as compatible. 

The Abkhaz Constitution contains non-discriminatory clauses and grants ethnic groups the right to native-language primary and secondary education. There are 16 Georgian schools in Abkhazia all located in Gal. Unlike Abkhaz schools curriculum, these schools operate according to the Georgian curriculum in terms of the hours allotted to specific subjects.

Russian, Armenian, Greek and Polish communities are registered in Abkhazia. They lead an active life so that there is a possibility for other people to engage in their culture. The government arranges folk festivals with the participation of folk groups representing other ethnic groups residing in Abkhazia.

Armenian, Russian, Georgian nationalities are represented both in the Government structures and the Parliament of Abkhazia.

The Abkhazian NGOs together with the Youth Centre organize peace camps with the participation of teenagers from the Gal region. Another NGO National Resources hold meetings of old people from all the regions of Abkhazia including the Gal region. Women organizations are the most active, they regularly meet the Gal women to discuss gender issues.

It is worth to mention that on 16 July, Abkhaz President Ankvab met with OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Mr. Vollebaek to discuss the issue of minority languages.

The OSCE official expressed hope for fruitful cooperation with the Abkhaz authorities. He noted interest in the problem of studies of Abkhazian and Georgian languages at the Gal District and said that Abkhazia had no problems in studies of languages.

  In addition it is also important to note that the Institute for Democracy and Saferworld conducted a survey in Eastern Abkhazia in December 2011 and January 2012.

The results of both surveys show that, almost twenty years after the initial outbreak of war, communities in Eastern Abkhazia still suffer from the consequences of the conflict.

At the same time, feelings of stability are increasing across the region. Indeed, the most recent survey suggests that a significant number of residents are looking to the future with some optimism, waiting for further improvements to infrastructure, the economy and the security situation. Such optimism provides an opportunity to engage local people in processes to manage the problems facing them, with a view to developing sustainable mechanisms for protecting the rights of people living in Eastern Abkhazia.

We hope that Georgia will refrain from its policy of intimidation towards the Georgian population of Abkhazia and resort to preservation of fragile peace and security in that region. It is easy to damage relations, but it is not that easy to win back confidence.

Liudmila Sagariya

“VERESK” Foundation for Disabled and Amputees 

 http://www.osce.org/odihr/94914

Democratic Lawmaking and the Rule Law in the Republic of Abkhazia

OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2012

  26 September 2012,  Working Session 4: Rule of Law I

I kindly thank you for offering such an opportunity to speak at this  honorable  and important meeting today and would like to turn your attention to  some aspects regarding  the  main topic of this session  connected to human rights promotion and respect.

There are various barriers on the path to democracy building in Abkhazia. A real protection of human rights is possible only with the development of truly democratic institutions, modernization of legislation, provision of judicial protection of the rights and fundamental freedoms.

A continuing isolation of Abkhazia from the West,  consequences of the Abkhaz - Georgian war in 1992-93,  severe economic sanctions  imposed by the entire international community Abkhazia faced  after the war, partial international recognition  made a negative effect on the development  of democracy in the Abkhaz society. The fragile process of democratic transformation, compromised by the difficult post-war realities, did not receive a support it needed from the outside world. The absence of a full international recognition of Abkhazia put obstacles to the implementation of international law standards in the human rights field and did not allow cooperating as a partner with foreign countries and their state structures and international organizations which leads to lagging in the development of democratic institutions. All this adversely effects reformations implemented in the judicial system.

    

The situation with judiciary is not ideal; it is not independent as it is expected by the society. We fully understand that a judicial independence is essential to the rule of law and is a fundamental guarantee of a fair trial. Judges are charged with the ultimate decision over life, freedoms, rights, duties and property of citizens (as it is written in UN basic principles, echoed in Beijing declaration; and Articles 5 and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights). Their independence is in the interests of the rule of law and of those seeking and expecting justice.  There is room for concern that the work of the judiciary institutions is not highly effective due to insufficient resources working in a very complex and often turbulent political, social and economic situation. The real problem of the lack of independence partly derives from the Soviet time, and also from the violation of the principle of irremovability of judges which exists in the legislations of many European states. Since October 1999 national referendum introduced an amendment to article 71 of the Constitution. According to the amendment judges have been appointed by a Parliament for a term of five years based on President’s nominations. This occurred mainly because of low legal culture of people and the majority  of the population voted for decreasing of  independence of judges. This speaks about the importance of raising legal awareness in order to avoid such things. The judicial society and independent Abkhaz experts as well as the representatives of civil society perceived negatively this infringement   regarding this principle and strictly criticized it. There is a threat that an uncertain tenure of judges may encourage corruption and bribery. These factors unfortunately undermine the independence of  judiciary and are among matters of concern of Abkhaz civil society.

 A considerable impact into the reform of a judicial system was made by the adoption of a new procedural legislation, since 1 of June 2008 a new Criminal Procedural Code  came into force and since 1 November 2008 a new Civil Procedural Code of the Republic of Abkhazia. New procedural legislation gives a new interpretation of the tasks of criminal and civil legislation in the centre of which  are human rights.          

There is no Constitutional Court in Abkhazia yet. The Parliament has not adopted the law on the Constitutional Court. The creation of such a body is necessary for a constitutional lawfulness in the Republic of Abkhazia. A legal state  can not exist without such a  body, which provides balance and restrictions of  authorities in the constitutional frames, protection of constitutional rights and freedoms of  citizens, interpretation of constitutional laws and the estimation of the  constitutionality of the legislation of the  Republic of Abkhazia. The Supreme Court investigates all cases regarding the compliance to the Constitution of any of President’s decisions, as well as the Parliament’s and other state bodies including local self-government.  But the Supreme Court functioning as a Constitutional, must have the right to interpret the Constitution, while currently this function is performed by the Parliament. 

One of the democratic achievements is to be considered in the creation of the position of a Commissioner for Human Rights in 2008 though not fully independent as the position is under the President.   It is a completely new kind of state institution throughout post-Soviet countries, not only in Abkhazia, and  has no historical, political or cultural roots. It was modeled on existing institutions in Western Europe. The main function of the Commissioner for Human Rights  is to defend and promote human rights  and freedoms  as well as to promote government activity in protecting human rights. The legal framework of the Commissioner for human rights is to be in line with international standards as given in the project of the Law on the Commissioner for Human Rights  presented to  the Abkhaz Parliament. The adoption of this law will be a serious stride on the way towards achieving a true and just situation in the human rights field.

Today the office of the Human Rights Commissioner in Abkhazia accepts and investigates complaints of human rights violations or abuses of authority by any public authority in Abkhazia.  Citizens may submit complaints against actions or omissions by public authorities to the Commissioner for human rights, who shall assess them without the power to take decisions and shall send the competent bodies such recommendations as may be necessary in order to prevent or make good any injustices.

Civil organizations in Abkhazia play a vital role in defending basic and democratic values and are a considerable and visible force in the society actively supporting the creation of independent national human rights structures.  For instance, certain NGOs involved in the drafting of legislation; civic oversight over fundamental freedoms, human rights, and civil society policy; and civil society participation in the debates over the changes to the Constitution. Prominent and widely known NGO have public consultations which provides legal advice free of payment and are accessible for the most vulnerable groups and dedicated to the realization of equal access to justice for all. A very useful analytical report was produced in 2008 by the Abkhaz NGO the Centre for Humanitarian Programmes. The report gives a characteristics   of the state of a judicial system of the Republic of Abkhazia, based on a thorough monitoring of courts and revealed problems in the legislation and practical activities of legal bodies which influences on the administration of justice and provided recommendations to raise effectiveness  of  a legal  protection of  human rights and freedoms in the Republic of Abkhazia.

Eventually I’d like to bring to your attention that just a few days ago the Council of Judges of Abkhazia adopted a statement to  make reformations  in the judicial system.

Asida Lomiya

“Veresk” Charity Foundation for Disabled and Amputees, Abkhazia

 http://www.osce.org/odihr/94576

Батал Кобахия: Абхазы будут строить отношение со всеми, кто найдет в себе силы и мужества быть честными и говорить с нами на равных.

Паата Закарешвили. Мы должны убедить абхазов, что им лучше быть с Грузией, чем с Россией.

Уважаемый Паата, если для того,  чтобы удержаться во власти,  вам  необходимо выдавать  такие вот скоропалительные предложения, то думаю,  что в Грузии поменялось шило на мыло. Как говориться,  веник вам в руки!

Абхазы будут строить отношение со всеми странами, которые найдут  в себе силы и мужества быть честными, говорить с нами на равных и руководствоваться реалиями.  Надеюсь, Грузия также освободится от удушающих объятий Америки,  и сама будет выстраивать свои собственные отношения с соседями.  Посмотрим,   возможно абхазы  пересмотрят свое отношения  к вам, если ваша страна действительно станет свободной, прагматичной, и рассчитывать на собственные ресурсы, а ее политики перестанут витать в облаках, а реально смотреть на свои возможные отношения с нами. А это граница, таможня, визовый въезд, но все после того,  как Грузия подпишет меморандум о неприменении силы и сделает шаг на пути признания независимости Абхазии  и подтверждения нашего суверенитета. В этом случае мы подумаем. Без всяких своих обольщений. И пусть запомнят политики в Грузии, что дружить мы вправе с кем хотим, но жить будем сами. В своей стране. Пусть обольщают свой народ нереальными предположениями о территориальной целостности и будущем Абхазии, а пока дай вам  Господь сил и разумения удержать без эксцессов первый мирный переход власти.

Процитирую всеми уже известное заявление Бидзины Иванишивили: «Мы грузины такие странные — мы привязаны к своей земле. Такой характер у нас. Вот у нас здесь, например, живут армяне. А я диву даюсь: вот у них родина рядом, а они здесь живут. Для вас, наверное, такого вопроса нет. А для меня непонятно». Так вот,  мне тоже непонятно почему в Грузии всем негрузинам  предлагают выехать жить  на Родину, а сами хотят выслать своих соплеменников  на чужбину, в Абхазию, словно они не также любят свою родину. Это я о беженцах, о которых говорит новый депутат грузинского парламента.
 Статья тут: Паата Закарешвили. Мы должны убедить абхазов, что им лучше быть с Грузией, чем с Россией. Мы должны показать им разницу между путинской Россией и демократической Грузией


 http://batal.livejournal.com/686988.html

Strive Against Terrorism in Abkhazia

OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2012
 26 September, Session 5:Fighting Against Terrorizm

 

 The Abkhazian civil society is deeply concerned with acts of terrorism being undertaken nowadays by Georgian authorities supporting penetration of terrorists into the district of Gal which is located on the border between Georgia and Abkhazia. Terrorism is a criminal act that influences an audience including children beyond the immediate victim.

The Abkhaz authorities had repeatedly and also recently called on the United States, United Nations, and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to pressure on Georgia to halting what it called "terrorist activities" in a district bordering Georgia. The Gal district is mostly populated by ethnic Megrelians.

Abkhaz State Security Service Chief Mr. Aslan Bzhania said on June 20 that residents of the Gal area were kidnapped and another resident of a village in the district was allegedly kidnapped early on June 22.

The number of terrorist actions recorded in the Gal district gives evidence to Georgia's wide-ranging campaign to terrorize inhabitants of the Gal region of Abkhazia. The Gal district is mostly populated by ethnic Georgians.

The ApsnyPress Information Agency reported that on January 2012 the Gal police department detective Mr.Vitaly Rodonaya was murdered in the village of Gagida, in Gal. The terrorists broke into his house and took him at a gunpoint. Later the dead body of Mr.Rodonaya with 11 gunshot wounds was found 150 meters away from the house. The local militia found spent cartridges of 7.62 mm and 5.45 mm, and three anti-tank mines and fragmentation mine directionality. The criminals fled to Georgia.

May 28, 2012 in the city cafe in Gal the murders were reported of Mr. Leonid Kvitsinia, the Gal region traffic police officer, Mr.Davy Buava, criminal investigation police department detective, as well as Mr. Gultazi Kolbaya resident of the village Nabakia.

Based on the testimony of witnesses and detained citizen of Georgia on the territory of Abkhazia during his activities it was found out that the killing of the Abkhaz militiaman Mr. Davy Buava was planned and executed by the Georgian subversive group led by Mr.Slava Bigvava that previously was commander of one of the groups forming subversive "Forest brothers "and now is the officer in the official structures of Georgia.

In March 2012 in the Rapi village of the Gal district Georgian citizen Mr. Malkhaz Rurua was detained who was a member of sabotage and intelligence group, he had: the AK-74 ammunition, anti-tank mines, anti-tank and anti-personnel grenade F-1 grenade with him.

In December 2012 the assassination of the Repi village Head of Administration.

In January 2010 in Mr.Eduard Kubrava, the Gal region Interior officer was killed.

In June 2010 a terrorist act was committed against the Gal customs officers.

In July 2010 the Bargeb village militia officer died in ambush.

As for the famous Georgian guerrilla groups “White Legion” and “Forest Brothers” for a long time Georgian authorities denied that they were involved in any of the activities of partisan organizations and stated that they were without control in the region, although some Georgian politicians at that time even publically applauded the partisan activity. Mr.David Shengelia, the leader of the Forest Brothers group, was appointed the Deputy Chief of the Gal administration-in-exile in 2002 and stated in an interview with Rustavi 2 television that some arms which were recovered from a member of the Georgian Ministry of State Security actually belonged to partisans fighting against Abkhaz separatists. The arsenal consisted of three anti-tank grenade launchers, nine anti-tank missiles and other types of arms. Furthermore, Mr.Shengelia also remarked that he had evidence of the participation of the Ministry of State Security of Georgia in acts of smuggling on the border across the River Ingur. Mr. Shengelia himself was accused of smuggling at the time when he was occupying his official post. Obviously, acts of sabotage were combined with robbery and smuggling so it is extremely difficult to distinguish between political crimes and those committed for personal material gain in the border zones, particularly in the Gal District.

Together, these facts testify to the criminal activities .As for the White Legion, the unit under the leadership of its head, Mr.Zurab Samushia was especially active in the Gal District during the events of 1998, although after that year the activities of the group gradually stopped. The Georgian press published materials describing the linkage between the White Legion and the Georgian Ministry of Interior Affairs, which was never refuted by the authorities.

Following the events of August 2008, Mr. Samushia stated in an interview to a Russian newspaper that his group should resume subversive activities in Abkhazia.

In 2006 under the personal supervision of President Saakashvili, a so called patriotic camp for youth was built right on the border with Abkhazia in the village of Ganmukhuri. The camp was intended for preparation and training of young people for the purposes known just to the Tbilisi government.

We are referring to you as the community security in Abkhazia and especially in the Eastern part of Abkhazia is under a continuous threat and the right to life is violated.

Liudmila Sagariya

"VERESK"

 Foundation for Disabled and Amputees, Abkhazia

 http://www.osce.org/odihr/94577