Defense Minister Under Fire over Saguramo Incident
Davit Darchiashvili, who chairs the “Open Society ? Georgia” Foundation, and Tina Khidasheli, of the influential human rights advocacy NGO Georgian Young Lawyers? Association, convened a press conference on April 4 and severely criticized the Defense Ministry’s leadership for violating the rights of the country’s servicemen.
An incident in a military unit in Saguramo, near Tbilisi, involving private Arkady Kukava became the catalyst for this latest statement. Private Kukava is suffering from pneumonia and is, according to his doctors in “grave condition” after he was allegedly forced by his platoon commander, Col. Gela Lomsadze to spend all night outside the barracks half-naked.
The commanding officer, Col. Nika Janjgava decided to suspend Lomsadze, following a protest by other servicemen. Janjgava claimed Lomsadze wrongly used methodology generally reserved for special forces training for basic conscript training. However, Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili overturned this decision on April 3, stating the need for “discipline” in the armed foces.
?Discipline does not mean depriving soldiers of all their rights. They forget that a soldier is a human being and he has rights as well,? Davit Darchiashvili said.
Tina Khidasheli slammed Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili saying that the Defense Ministry has become extremely non-transparent recently, adding that the incident in Saguramo shows the necessity for increased civil control over the armed forces.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian)
