After holding talks with secessionist authorities in Abkhazia, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg met with head of the Tbilisi-backed Abkhaz government-in-exile Malkhaz Akishbaia on February 14.
The meeting was held in the Georgian town of Zugdidi at the administrative border with breakaway Abkhazia.
Speaking at a news conference in Tbilisi on February 15, Commissioner Hammarberg said that he had no time to travel to the Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge, where the headquarters of the Abkhaz government-in-exile is located.
He said that representatives of the exiled government showed him a video about what has happened in upper Kodori Gorge since July 2006, when the area came under the Tbilisi?s full control.
?Our principle is that we want to be in touch with everyone who is involved in this situation. We are not in the business of recognizing or not recognizing; we need those who are relevant for the protection of human rights for the individuals. It is very logical that we met with those representatives [of the exiled government],? CoE Commissioner Hammarberg said.
The Abkhaz side has denounced the government-in-exile as ?puppet authorities? of Tbilisi and demands that it be disbanded. Sokhumi was further irritated by Tbilisi?s decision to relocate the exiled government?s headquarters to upper Kodori Gorge last September.
Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili hailed the CoE Commissioner?s meeting with representatives of the Abkhaz government-in-exile as ?extremely important in the sense that the legitimate government of Abkhazia represents over 300,000 refugees.?
?This fact [meeting] is further proof that the international community is increasingly responsive to the legitimate government?s rightful claims. It is a very good tendency which we will try to continue, to ensure that the international community speaks not only with the separatists in Sokhumi but also heeds a majority of the population living on this territory,? Gela Bezhuashvili said.
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