Salome Achba
Sergo Jabauri lived in the occupied Akhalgori district. A month ago he arrived in Tbilisi because of health problems and started treatment at Tbilisi Aramiantsi Hospital which will soon end and Jabauri will be dismissed from hospital on February 11… after that he will have to stay in the street.
The problem is that although Sergo Jabauri lived in Akhalgori district and still has house there, he is registered in Tbilisi at his relative’s house. While he was taking medical treatment in the capital, Akhalgori district de-facto administration changed its policy about ethnic Georgian residents of the district – only registered people can enter Akhalgori.
So, after treatment Sergo Jabauri will remain without home. He will go neither to Akhalgori nor to Tbilisi where he does not have shelter.
“I arrived here for treatment and they said I had to stay in Aramiantsi Hospital. Tomorrow I will be dismissed from here but have nowhere to go. I cannot return to Akhalgori because I am registered in Tbilisi at my relative’s flat. The locals asked me to abolish my registration in Tbilisi and register in Akhalgori district or otherwise I will have to leave the district. I shelter different relatives in Tbilisi; I am homeless. I am still waiting for the compensation but they do not give me any,” said Jabauri.
Sergo Jabauri’s doctor Nino Abashidze said the patient’s health is stable at the moment and he does not need medical treatment. “He has chronic diseases and at the moment he does not need treatment at hospital. We do not know what to do. He said he has nowhere to go but we have to dismiss him tomorrow,” said the doctor.
The officials of the Akhalgori district administration said Jabauri is on the list of people who are waiting for compensation. However, it is long procedure. The lawyer of the Human Rights Center Shorena Latatia got in touch with the Ministry of IDPs and asked them to immediately discuss Jabauri’s case. However, the Ministry representatives told her the man is not an IDP and they cannot assist him.
Shorena Latatia, the Human Rights Center: “Jabauri is on the list of people who are waiting for the compensation. The district administration confirmed that he deserves compensation. Generally it is long process but Jabauri has nowhere to go. So, I asked the Ministry to immediately discuss his case but they said this person is not an IDP. He had not applied the Ministry for IDP status so they cannot assist him. Before, the Ministry had similar policy: a person could receive a status after compensation was issued on him/her. The district administration used to send the list of people who deserved compensations to the ministry which used to discuss each case individually; then they granted compensations to them and finally the people received IDP status. Now, the representatives of the Ministry told me they initially grant status to a person and then compensations. It is a new and strange policy of the ministry and I had not heard about it before.”
The Ministry officials said Sergo Jabauri had not applied to them for the status and so he does not have IDP status. Despite that, Jabauri provided the Human Rights Center with the copy of document where he requested the Ministry to grant IDP status to him. The document also shows that the Ministry accepted the application. Nevertheless, the Ministry of IDPs left his request without any respond that was later sued at the Tbilisi City Court.
The Court will decide to grant IDP status to Sergo Jabauri together with the compensation or not on February 14. Before that, Jabauri has nowhere to go. Tomorrow he will leave hospital and remain in the street.
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