Salome Achba
On February 16, the Human Rights Center presented the new documentary of Giorgi Janelidze “the Disappeared” in Cinema House. The film is about the people who disappeared in Georgia during peace time.
The film highlights lesser-known facts and aspects to four cases of disappearances.
The first story is about disappearance of 17-year-old Giga Elizbarashvili from the village of Vachnadzeani in Gurjaani district in September, 2010. The corpse was found one month later in the village but his disappearance and death is not completely investigated yet.
Nine days later, on September 26, 2010, 14-year-old Vasil Tsiklauri disappeared in the village of Arkhiloskalo in Dedoplistskaro district. His friend was last who saw Tsiklauri before disappearance; the friend said they were together on the day of incident and then Vasiko decided to walk alone and then went towards the ravine together with his dog. The friend returned home alone and since then, nobody has seen Vasil Tsiklauri.
Another story highlighted in the film prepared by the video-studio of the Human Rights Center, is about disappearance of a resident of Sadakhlo village in Marneuli district - Sadardin Palangov (nickname GaraMola) in 2005. The family members connect his disappearance with his conflict with the officials of Marneuli district administration.
In October, 2009 ethnic Chechen Said Husein Tazbaev, who had political shelter in Georgia, disappeared. He was member of the persecuted government of Chechnya – minister of culture. On the day of incident, Tazbaev took his son to the swimming pool in Vazha Pshavela Avenue but did not pick him up later. Tazbaev’s wife still does not know where, why and how her husband disappeared.
“The main purpose of this film was to make those facts public and to investigate each of them. The main problem which we encountered in studying those cases was inactivity of the law enforcement institutions. We hope after those facts become more famous, they will start more effective investigation,” said Giorgi Janelidze, the author of the film.
“Today, we saw quite a high-quality journalistic investigation in the Cinema House. The topic of enforced disappearance is not very-well highlighted in Georgian media and the significance of this film is increased in this direction. Carrying out journalistic investigation requires serious bravery in our country; particularly when you have to investigate crimes committed by the government or their inactivity. In similar situation, Giorgi Janelidze’s film is very valuable,” said member of the Conservative Party Lasha Chkhartishvili after the presentation.
The resulting investigation has not been unable to provide any resolution to the abovementioned incidents by 2010, nor has it been able shed light on the reasons behind these disappearances. There are about 900 facts of disappearance registered in Georgia.
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