Parliament Agrees on Resolution and list Against Occupants and Secessionist Regimes
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, March 20
The Georgian Dream majority and the parliamentary minority have managed to agree on the resolution on Archil Tatunashvili’s case, a Georgian soldier who died in unclear circumstances in the occupied Tskhinvali region on February 23, as well as on the list which will include the people who violated Georgians’ rights in the country’s occupied Tskhinvali and Abkhazia regions.
The resolution will be allegedly voted in Parliament on March 21, while until June 15, the government of Georgia will be obliged to present the list to lawmakers naming the people who have been charged for kidnapping, torture, inhuman treatment, deliberate damage to health, concealing of crime and other grave offences to Georgian citizens.
The Parliament Speaker of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze stated that the resolution demands the immediate return of Tatunashvili’s body to his family, after about a month from death, and the provision of a comprehensive investigation into the case with the participation of international experts.
The resolution will also demand the safe return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the occupied regions to their original homes in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali.
“The Otkhozoria-Tatunashvili list [the name of the list with the offenders] will enable us to take further preventive measures to protect our citizens,” Kobakhidze said.
Archil Talakvadze, leader of the parliamentary majority, proposed David Basharuli’s case to be included in the joint resolution.
Basharuli, who went missing on June 4, 2014, in occupied Akhalgori, was found dead under suspicious circumstances in summer 2015.
Tatunashvili and two other Georgian citizens were detained by occupation forces on February 22 in the Akhalgori area, on territory currently controlled by Russians. Tatunashvili died on February 23 in unclear circumstances while in detention.
Levan Kutashvili and Ioseb Pavliashvili, who were detained along with Tatunashvili, were only able to leave the occupied region on March 11.
Georgian Prime Minister has urged Russia to take joint steps to resolve this "complicated situation”. However, Russia stated that the case was “beyond their competence” and urged Georgia to address the issue with the “governments of the occupied regions.”
Giga Otkhozoria, a 30-year-old Georgian citizen, was killed with eight gunshots by a Russia-controlled border guard Rashid Kanji Ogli in 2016, on the territory currently controlled by Georgia.
The offender still walks free.
Elaboration of the Otkhozoria-Tatunashvili list was the initiative of the European Georgia opposition party.
