What happened?
Since September 27, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti residents have been protesting the 49-year hunting license for 104,712 hectares of Racha forest granted to Davit Khidasheli’s private company. Led by Varlam Goletiani, the Save Rioni Valley movement leader and a key figure in the Namakhvani protest, they argue that the Government is leaving remote, inaccessible areas for Racha National Park, meanwhile ceding critical conservation territories to Khidasheli.
How did Khidasheli acquire the license?
In April 2022, the online media outlet “Mtis Ambebi” conducted a journalistic investigation revealing that the Georgian government had granted Davit Khidasheli’s company a 49-year license of Racha forest to establish a hunting farm. Khidasheli, known for his connections with Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and close ties to Bidzina Ivanishvili and Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, is a Georgian businessman who played a key role in the “Cartographers’ Case.” From 2007 to 2014, he served as the executive vice-president of AFK Sistema PAO, a Russian conglomerate owned by sanctioned tycoon Vladimir Yevtushenkov, who supported the annexation of Crimea.
The land transferred to Khidasheli for hunting farms borders Russia and the occupied Tskhinvali region. It’s larger than Lagodekhi, Vashlovani, Javakheti, and Erusheti National Parks. The hunting license was auctioned in March 2022 for 1,151,832 GEL (11 Gel per hectare) with only one bidder, HG Capra Caucasica LLC. HG Capra Caucasica LLC was registered on September 9, 2019, with Kakha Amisulashvili as the current director. Its parent company is Global Victory Investments Limited in the UAE, owned by Davit Khidasheli and his daughter, Mariam Khidasheli.
The auction terms stipulate a 5 million GEL investment within 5 years (47.7 GEL per hectare) and the reintroduction of noble deer and Caucasian deer to the land. The license area also includes the “Emerald Network” territories, aimed at conserving European biodiversity. Its establishment is a necessary requirement of the European Convention for the Protection of Wildlife and Natural Habitats, the Berne Convention, to which Georgia acceded in 2009.
Transparency International – Georgia claims that granting the license to Khidasheli on a third of Racha’s territory resulted in lost revenue of about 2,057,593 GEL (USD 619,757) from donor organizations and potentially involved corrupt dealings. As the watchdog notes, Khidasheli was “awarded” this license from Ivanishvili for his contribution in the “Cartographers’ Case”.
In September 2021, an agreement was signed between the Caucasus Nature Fund (CNF) and the Wyss Foundation to provide USD 14 million for the creation of five new protected areas in Georgia. In Racha the discussion was about a territory of a minimum of 46,972 hectares – in which case the funding would be USD 2,113,740, and a maximum of 65,761 hectares – in which case the funding would reach USD 2,959,245 ($45 per hectare, 13 times more than Khidasheli pays even with his 5-year investment plan).
What lead to the protests?
A number of events lead up to the protests throughout this year, :
- The National Environment Agency had instructed HG Capra Caucasica LLC to submit a report on the hunting farm’s impact on the Emerald Network and the Management Plan by March 25. The company failed to comply, leading the Department of Environmental Supervision to initiate administrative offense proceedings. However, on July 24, the Ambrolauri court terminated the case. The Department appealed this decision to the Kutaisi Court of Appeal on July 27. The decision has not been made yet, but the Department has already suspended the process of land acquisition for the Racha hunting farm on September 13.
- On July 17, “Mtis Ambebi” revealed that in 2019 (and again in 2020) Oni’s ex-Mayor sent a letter to the National Environment Agency falsely claiming local support for the Racha territory auction. However, interviews with residents from 30+ villages in Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti regions indicated no one sought their opinion. Four months after the agreement, Former Mayor Emzar Sabanadze became the director of HG Capra Caucasica LLC, drawing a 32,000 GEL salary in seven months.
- On July 26, NGOs “Green Alternative” and “Civic Activities Center” filed a request with the General Prosecutor’s office, urging an investigation into potential cases of official fraud and bribery involving former Oni municipality Mayor Emzar Sabanadze and his first deputy, Dimitri Sakvaraldze, under Article 338 and 341 of the Georgian Criminal Code.
How are the protests developing?
Protests have intensified over the past week, despite the Department of Environmental Supervision’s decision to suspend land acquisition for HG Capra Caucasica LLC. Varlam Goletiani contends that the department’s move was merely an attempt to placate the protesters, and he believes that once the protests cease, the company will submit the required documents, and the land acquisition process will resume as usual.
On October 16, Chiatura miners joined the protests and helped the protesters block the Oni-Ambrolauri road for seven hours. A few days later, on October 19, a planned meeting with Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture representatives was canceled, because the protesters weren’t allowed to livestream the meeting on their social media. Because of the objection to this decision, the officials left the building from the back door and the police prevented a second tent setup in front of the City Council. Nevertheless, the protests are still going strong and Goletiani insists that they will continue until the license is revoked, calling on all Georgians to join in.
