Life of Family Members of the Warriors Killed in the War in Abkhazia

Manon Bokuchava, Kvemo Kartli

On the day of fall of Sokhumi, the governmental officials usually go to the memorial of the warriors killed for the territorial integrity. The families of those warriors, whose names are now written on the memorial, cope with daily problems in various regions of Georgia.

The father of 23-year-old Giorgi Aptsiauri, who died for the territorial integrity of Georgia in Abkhazia, lives without permanent address. “I was urging my son not to go to the war but he went in secret. Giorgi was not killed by bullet. He had about one hundred punctures on the body. I am luckier than others because I have grave of my son,” said Giorgi’s father Isidore Aptsiauri. He shelters at his relatives in Kostava Street in Rustavi. He showed his corner in the flat, which is separated by curtain and there he has a bad, a wardrobe and a chair.

“I come from Pasanauri. There, the earthquake destroyed my house. My son’s cloths also remained in that house. I urged the government to assist me in the reconstruction of the house but in vain. Then, I could not spend hours in their offices and stopped urging. Afterwards, I entered in one room in Tbilisi Street in Rustavi, renovated it, repaired windows and floors. They promised to register the room on my name only after I unregister in Pasanauri. I did it but meanwhile Gelashvili, who promised me to register the room on me, was dismissed and his substitute did not assist me. So, I remained in the street. Now, I am registered neither in Pasanauri nor in Rustavi. The relatives gave shelter to me but how long can I stay here?!” said Isidore Aptsiauri. He added that he petitioned to Elene Tevdoradze years ago and “She wrote a very sensitive letter to me. Then she wrote to that time regional governor about me and asked him to assist me but all in vain. Now, I have lost all hopes; I cannot collect documents and appeal to various ministries in turn.”

Medea Akhalaia - widow of Badri Shubitidze, who was killed in Abkhazia, spoke about her problems with us. “The only thing I have from my husband left is the memorial where his name was written; that is his grave for us. I could not bring his corpse from Abkhazia; he was exploded on the shell and it was impossible to inject balsam into his body. I have two children and I receive allowance of 46 GEL as a family without bread-winner. It is hard for everybody to keep a family nowadays and we are in particularly difficult situation. After we fled from Abkhazia, we struggled much for accommodation. Now, one of my sons studied working in the bakery and wants to make his own bakery; they were paying too low salary to him and said he could not work any longer. I cannot assist him at all. You see the conditions in our flat. I went to the local office of the ministry of accommodations and asked whether they could renovate our flat but nobody replied to me yet. They do not know whether they have funds for it or not.”

Medea Akhalaia was involved in the state program for socially disabled people. Although she had a medical policy, she cannot be operated on goiter. “These balls are growing day-by-day on my throat. The doctor gave me a notification that I need an operation but the policy does not fund me. I was told at the insurance company they do not fund preliminarily planned operations.”