News broke on May 3 that 12 servicemen abandoned their military unit in Akhaltsikhe and went AWOL, claiming they were subjected to human rights abuses and intimidation from officers and other servicemen in the military unit.
All of these servicemen are residents of Akhalkalaki, a town in the southern Georgian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti, which is predominately populated by ethnic Armenians.
Rustavi 2 television interviewed several of these AWOL servicemen on May 3. Private Barbarian said in an interview: ?we were beaten up [in the military unit]; we were frequently questioned about why we speak in Armenian and not in Georgian – but I do not know Georgian.? Another private complained that the officers were intimidating him and demanding money.
No official comment has been made by the Georgian Defense Ministry yet.
The Georgian Public Defender?s Office has already launched a probe into the case. ?I have talked with [an official from] the Defense Ministry and I think we can find some solution to this problem,? Sozar Subeliani, the Public Defender, told Rustavi 2 television on May 3.
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