Georgia Says 50 Families Expelled from Gali

Georgia said on February 27, that about 50 Georgian families were expelled by Abkhaz militias from the village of Otobaia in the Gali district, the Georgian Interior Ministry said in a statement on February 26.

According to the Georgian Interior Ministry it happened after the Abkhaz militias failed to capture a local resident of Otobaia, Irakli Bigvava; the latter, according to the ministry, was wounded but managed to escape on the Georgian-controlled territory.

A spokesperson for EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) told Civil.Ge on February 27, that European monitors met with some of those people who told observers that they “were forced out of their houses yesterday afternoon.” Those evicted from their houses also told EU monitors that Abkhaz militias warned them to return only after Bigvava would return to Abkhazia. The EUMM spokesperson also said that monitors have seen some 40 people, but added that “there might be more.”

The authorities in breakaway Abkhazia have strongly denied expelling locals from Otobaia.

Laurence Kogonia, head of the local Abkhaz police in the Gali district, and Ruslan Kishmaria, the Abkhaz leader’s envoy in the Gali district, told Abkhaz news agency Apsnipress, that the Georgian side was deliberately fueling up tension in the region ahead of the planned visit of Heidi Tagliavini to Abkhazia.

Swiss diplomat, Heidi Tagliavini, leads the EU-funded inquiry mission, which probes into the August war. According to Apsnipress the mission plans to visit Abkhazia on March 2.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)