On May 21, Abkhaz and other Caucasus nations became the victims of the cruel Russian Imperialist Policy in the 19th century. This day has been celebrated as a Day of Muhajirs by the victims of the Russian Empire since then. The Human Rights Centre decided to celebrate the day in Tbilisi and on May 21 invited the people interested in Georgian-Abkhaz conflict to the Boell Foundation at the presentation of the documentary film “Seaside of Sorrow” by Niko Tsuladze.
Member of the Ossetian Association in Georgia Giorgi Khetaguri disappeared for three years. He was detained on October 29, 2006 but the law enforcement bodies did not inform anybody about it. The society received complete information only after Giorgi Khetaguri served the complete sentence. Khetaguri, convicted for the purchase and usage of narcotics, said that he was sent to prison on political grounds. The law enforcement officers wanted to compel him to be their informer on the Ossetian side.
“If we want to gain Abkhazia back, we should first gain the hearts of Abkhaz people back; we should restore the broken bridge between the two nations of one state,” “Public diplomacy and peace will help us,” “We should forgive each other’s sins,” said the Georgian students during the discussion of Georgian-Abkhaz problem. However, we encountered radical statements too: “We will gain the territory lost by the war only through the war,” “Abkhaz people are blinded by Russia,” etc.
President
Mikheil Saakashvili and the Georgian Government used cluster bombs, a
weapon banned by almost every other country under international
Conventions, which both Georgia and Russia have not signed, on their
own citizens and territory during the Georgian-Russian war of early
August. Not merely in South Ossetia, as they themselves have admitted,
but in what is now called ‘Georgia proper,’ the area OUTSIDE South
Ossetia and Abkhazia which everyone acknowledges as Georgian. Human
Rights Watch has also investigated this matter and their findings
support the evidence that we discovered in the Georgian village of
Brosleti, located in what was then the Russian-controlled buffer zone,
as published in the Georgian Times and the Human Rights Center.
However, the main focus of our conclusions is based upon HRW’s detailed
investigation.
The
Georgian Human Right Centre has handed over documentation detailing
allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity during and after
the armed conflict between Georgia and Russia to a representative of
the Prosecutors Office of the International Criminal Court, Mr. Matthew
Brubacher. The meeting took place in The Hague, The Netherlands, on
19th of November.
The Human Rights Center Celebrated International Day of Peace.
Today,
near the Rustaveli Undergraound Station and Tbilisi State University
the Human Rights Center organized an event to celebrate the
Internaitonal Day of Peace.
The
UN International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by resolution
36/67 of the General Assembly to coincide every year with its opening
session in September. In 2001 September 21 was fixed to become a day of
global ceasefire and non-violence through 24 hours.
On February 19, the Human Rights Center presented documentary film of Niko Tsuladze “Seaside of Sorrow” in the small hall of Cinema House. 45-minutes long film is about tragic history of Abkhaz Muhajirs from 1860s to present day.
The film, directed by Niko Tsuladze with financial support of European Foundation “Union of Free Artists” and Georgian Cinema Centre, is called “Seaside of Sorrow”. It tells about Abkhaz people, who were evicted from the Black Sea Coast and settled in Turkey.
On December 2, everybody hoped the one-month epopee of the adults kidnapped from Tirdznisi village will end in happy-end but decision of Ossetian separatists showed we have to wait for the happy-end for more ten days. However, we can speak about the conditional end because release of the children does not mean hatred has disappeared and nobody will be kidnapped in future.