| Restaurants
Instead of Kindergartens Due to the government's
job cuts policy, 1,654 kindergartens had been closed
in Georgia by now. Most of them were replaced by
restaurants and saunas. "Resonance"
No. 299, October 31, pp. 1, 2
ARGENT
In Moscow was detained
and 6 March 1999 extradited to Georgia Mr.Valeri
Gabelia member of exiled Parliament, Prefect of
Marneuli Region, Chairman of "Ckondideli
Society".
In
Moscow was detained Mr.Givi Taktakishvili
member of exiled Parliament. There is danger of
extradition to Georgia. After G.Absandze, it is second
time, when prominent member of the Legal Government is
persecuted in Russia (Dec 18,
1998).
Mr. Guram Absandze,
the prominent figure of Georgian political opposition,
was taken into the custody on March 17 1998, on the
territory of the Smolensk Region of Russia. Arrest was
conducted in order to grant the request of the
Georgian authorities and with an intent to extradite
him to Georgia [was extradited, now under trial]. Significant part of the members
of the legal government and the parliament, in order
to avoid an imprisonment on the basis of the
fabricated evidence and the political settling of
scores, have been forced to hide abroad. The fact of arrest of Mr.
Absandze in Russia and his possible extradition to
Georgia - extremely alarming itself - demonstrates
also the new stage of collaboration between the
Russian authorities and the illegal Georgian regime,
which has made the torture and the human rights abuses
the corner-stone of its policy. Once allowed to
happen, this dangerous precedent might have an
unpredictable scale and character, especially when
taking into account that Mr. Absandze, who lately was
forced to hide on the territory of Russian Federation
has applied for the Russian citizenship and has got
it. Mr. Guram
Absandze has already experienced personally the
"advantages" of the penitentiary of the
existing Georgian regime: On January 6,1992, then the
vice-premier and the finance minister of the
government of President Gamsakhurdia, with several
bullet wounds inflicted by the attackers of the
Government House, he was arrested immediately after
the military coup. After 9 months of the vain attempts
to fabricate the case, he was finally released from
custody because of the extremely poor condition of
health.
On September 5, 1997 in
Moscow was detained Georgian political emigrant Gela
Kvaratskelia b. 1964 in Sukhumi, officer of
Georgian National Guard loyal to President
Gamsakhurdia. Earlier he was twice arrested in Georgia
and tortured.On September 8, 1997 in Moscow was
detained Georgian political emigrant Vladimer
Abralava, Tsalendzhikha town Prefecture official. Georgian
Procuracy claims for extradition of tens of supporters
of Legal Government of president Gamsakhurdia living
in Russia.
(+)
Political prisoner David LOLADZE: sentenced to
10 years' imprisonment. Arrested: 1 September 1992.
Tortured. Born in 1966. Academic. CASE No. 7792809 -
Died recently as a result of inhuman, brutal treatment
in the prison camp. (+) Vakhtang GOKSADZE,
same case No. 7792809: Died as a result of torture in
the police station of the town of Kvareli on 3
September 1992. No one has been charged for his death.
Born in 1936. Teacher of mathematics. (+) Malkhaz
GVINIASHVILI, case No. (83)238: sentenced to 14
years' imprisonment. Arrested: 9 July 1993. Tortured.
Born in 1954. Died of tuberculosis on 18 January 1997
in Tbilisi prison hospital.
DEATH PENALTY
THREATENS THE MP, October 7, 1996. Georgia: political
persecution goes on. Prosecutor demands death penalty
for Zviad Dzidziguri - the member of the
persecuted legal Parliament of Georgia - as well as
for Vakhtang Kobalia and Jambul
Bokuchava - officers of the Guard, loyal to the
legal authorities of Georgia. 13 years of imprisonment
has been demanded for Nugzar Molodinashvili -
another member of the legal Parliament. Dozens of
prisoners who have been already convicted on the
political grounds since Kremlin masterminded military
coup in January 1992 and Russian invasion in October
1993 have been held in inhuman conditions, among them
three - Petre Gelbakhiani, Irakli Dokvadze
and Badri Zarandia - under
constant threat of execution, another three - Viktor
Domukhovski, Valter Shurgaia and Zaur
Kobalia are the members of the overthrown
Parliament. On the 19th November, 1996, the Supreme
Court of Georgia sentenced Mr.Vakhtang Kobalia
to death penalty; Mr.Jambul
Bokuchava - to 15 years of imprisonment; Mr.Zviad
Dzidziguri - to 13 years of imprisonment; Mr.Nugzar
Molodinashvili - to 7 years of imprisonment. On this URGENT, see:
Georgia
Systematically Violates Basic Human Rights
International Helsinki Federation for
Human Rights (26 February 1997)
The Russian Frontier
Guards Will Stay in Georgia for Some More Years:
At their negotiations in Tbilisi on June 6-9, General
Valeri Chkheidze, the c-in-c of the Georgian frontier
troops, and General Alexander Manilov, deputy chairman
of the federal frontier service of Russia, agreed to
continue the two countries' co-operation in frontier
defense. The Russian frontier guards in Georgia
will be financed by both parties: 60% of the expenses
will cover Russia, while 40% Georgia.
"Kavkasioni" No. 99, June 11, p. 3...Recession,
hyper inflation and civil war have beset the Caucasian
nations. Welfare indicators, such as
employment and school enrolments, are at their lowest.
These three countries have also witnessed a
considerable collapse of State institutions and the
cancellation in 1994 of the only social safety-net,
i.e. access to 400 grammes of subsidized bread per
day. In Azerbaijan, there was a seven fold
increase in the number of homicides between 1989 and
1994. In Georgia, the crude marriage rate have
fallen by half in six years, to a dismal 3.8 per
thousand...(UNICEF PROPOSALS TO CURB ONGOING
SOCIAL CRISIS IN EASTERN EUROPE)
According the data
from Ministry of Health -- Georgia is at the first
place in the world by means of tuberculosis: 1% of
population is ill, every year 2000 die. ('Lasharis
Gori', N 38, 22-27 Nov. 1996)
According the data
from Jewish Society of Georgia, during first 8 months
of 1996, 936 Jews emigrated from Georgia to Israel. In
second large Georgian city Kutaisi in 1991 were 1100
Jewish families, in 1996 - only 280. In Kulashi, Vani
and Sachkhere at which place Jews were living for 2
thousand years there are not Jewish families at all.
('Menora', N 11, 1996; 'Lasharis Gori', N 38, 22-27
Nov. 1996)
Three Georgian Soldiers Have
Hung Themselves Report about a press-conference of the
organisation for protection of soldiers' rights,
October 22. Among the problems of the army there is a
rather low-caloric diet: 1500 calories instead of
needed 4000. Worse still, the rate of mortality in
the army has increased in recent times: 7 soldiers
have been lost since the beginning of the year, 3 of
them hanged themselves because of extremely hard
conditions. ("Resonansi" No. 203, October
1997, 23, pp. 1.3)
After Losing His Job, Math
Teacher Throws Himself Out of the Window "Komsomol'skaja
Pravda" (circulation 1.6 million, Moscow)
published a picture taken in Tbilisi (Georgia) as
Victor Setashko, 39, jumped to his death because he
could not find a job after the shevardnadze's regime
'closed all its Russian schools'. Average monthly
payment for school teacher in Georgia is 7,3 US$. |
Articles from newspaper "Free
Georgia"-"თავისუფალი
საქართველო"
