Zurab Otiashvili: “Entire Georgia Shall Not Know What Is Happening in Dusheti”

Gela Mtivlishvili

Three people have been fired from Dusheti district based agencies and organizations for having given comments to the journalists of the Information Center of Mtskheta-Mtianeti. Other employees were warned about having breached the law by giving comments to the journalists.

Worker – Givi Papkiauri

Givi Papkiauri worked for the Road Rehabilitation Programs in Eristavi Street, Dusheti from July of 2011. On September 14, he confirmed with the journalist of the ICMM that Rago Ltd had not paid salaries to the workers. As soon as the information was spread, the representative of the Ltd called and told him he was dismissed.

“They said rehabilitation activities had finished and I had to rest; they promised to call me if they needed me. However, that evening they continued paving asphalt in the street but nobody called me. They got rid of me because of giving interview to the journalist. Though I told only the truth to you,” said Givi Papkiauri.

Yuri Pirveli, director of the Rago Ltd, said Papkiauri told the lie to journalists. “The company has not salary debts to any employee. Papkiauri told lie to you; however, we have not dismissed him for this reason. The rehabilitation activities finished and we dismissed him,” said the director.

Authoritative Representative of Shatili Community – Nino Chincharauli

Before that, authoritative representative of Shatili Community was also fired for having given interview to the journalist. On August 16, the ICMM published an article about corruption accusations against Dusheti district governor Zurab Otiashvili. The former employee of the procurement department at the Dusheti district administration Dodo Chokheili said that in November of 2009, the local authority spent 9 422 GEL on the alleged embankment fortifying activities in Shatili; however, it was heavy snow in Shatili at that time so no fortifying activities could have been conducted in the area. 

Former authoritative representative of the Shatili Community Nino Chincharauli confirmed the information in her interview with the ICMM and said that road to Shatili was blocked at the end of October in 2009 and was opened only in spring of 2010; consequently, nothing was done in Shatili.

Next day, on August 17, Nino Chincharauli was called to the Dusheti district administration and demanded to resign. Chincharauli confirmed that she wrote resignation letter though it was her personal decision. “I filed resignation letter according to my own decision. I got married and would not have been able to travel to Shatili,” said Chincharauli.

“Chincharauli applied to us and filed resignation letter. We satisfied her application,” Lasha Janashvili, Dusheti district governor, told the ICMM.

Irakli Chonkadze – Kvavili Public School Director

On September 8, ICMM’s journalist Manana Kveliashvili prepared a photo-reportage from the public school of Kvavili village in Dusheti district. The reportage was about the problems in the school and village. After the reportage was published, the school director Irakli Chonkadze was called to the district administration; there he was rebuked for having allowed journalists into the school building without corresponding permission from the local authority. As a result, he was compelled to write resignation letter. Irakli Chonkadze does not comment on the fact. He had been school director from February of 2011.

Head of Dusheti district education resource-center Tina Bantsuri confirmed that Chonkadze filed resignation letter. “The school requires much energy. Maybe, Irakli Chonkadze could not stand hard work and found better job or decided to rest. We have sent his resignation letter to the Ministry of Education and Science though we have not received a reply yet,” said Bantsuri.

Protesters

On September 26, employees of the Dusheti Service Center of the Georgian United Water-Supply Company held protest demonstration in front of the Dusheti district administration. They protested dismissal of technical manager from the office and blamed the head of the office Vakhtang Kipshidze in corruption. The ICMM prepared a photo-reportage about their protest and video-interviewed the protesters. In the same evening, the protesters were invited to the district administration. Zurab Otiashvili, member of Dusheti municipal board, told them they had breached the law for having held the demonstration and informed journalists about it.

“Otiashvili told us problems cannot be solved by demonstrations in modern Georgia and that we should not have informed journalists about it. Otiashvili had copies of those photos which were taken by the journalist. He showed us the photos and said we have breached the law by complaining, protesting and informing journalists about our problems. He said entire Georgia should not know what is happening in Dusheti. “It is crime and you should appeal to us when you have problems,” said the workers.

Chair of the Dusheti municipal board Tsaro Sadzaglishvili confirmed that they really met workers though denied the information about similar dialogue between Otiashvili and workers.

Control in Facebook

On September 26, Tamar Tsotskolauri shared information about the problems in Pshavi region villages on the Facebook page of the ICMM. She said villages Tsiteli Klde, Satskhavatlo, Pichviani, Dolosha, Vartsla and Akhaltsikhe are without attention. Several villages are isolated from the environment. For example, there was a shop, medical center and school in Tsiteli Klde. Bus ran there every weekend and villagers could travel to the town to sell their dairy products and buy wheat flour and products for winter. Nowadays, bus does not run there; village is not supplied with gas and water; there is no road, school and doctor there. Tamar Tsotskolauri said locals abandon Pshavi villages because of these problems.

On October 5, Tamar Tsotskolauri wrote on the same page: “People started calling me on the phone and rebuked for having complained about the authoritative representative of the region. Please, read my letters again and show concrete letter where I mention concrete names.”

-Ms Tamar, did they call you after you had a dialogue with another user of our page on the Facebook?

-Yes, they did. I guess everybody must hide the truth. And do they think I will get afraid of them? I wrote, the government (Saakashvili) promised to supply every village with gas and water and to rehabilitate roads to every village; the woman told the district commissary that I sued him. The commissary told the authoritative representative of the village and they started to oppose me,” said Tamar Tsotskolauri.

Hindering Professional Performance

Because of these facts, public officials abstain to talk to Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information Center due to different reasons. According to their explanation, they are not refusing to issue information. However, they ask journalists to address in a written request and they will make comment in written form. In case of urgency, journalists have to obtain comment which has nothing to do with public information in a written form. This takes a lot of time and hinders journalists’ professional performance.

According to the verified information, Zurab Otiashvili requested dismissal of Chincharauli, Papkiauri and Chonkadze. Otiashvili is an ordinary member of Dusheti Municipality City Council from the National Movement list. However, he is the one who makes the most important decisions. He attends almost all meetings where a decision is to be made. Otiashvili hosts the Governor, Minister and other officials in the region.

Facts of Pressure

Before Otiashvili tried to hinder the work of journalists of Mtskheta-Mtianeti Center, he “took other measures.”

Initially, local government officials intimidated two local journalists from Dusheti to stop cooperation with Mtskheta-Mtianeti Center. The journalists were got job through the competition. The journalists were told their family members would be detained if they did not obey. The threat was coming from the editor of the newspaper Dushetis Matsne Mikheil Chonkadze and one more official on behalf of member of City Council Zurab Otiashvili and Dusheti Municipality Governor Lasha Janashvili. On the same night, the driver who was also appointed to job as a result of a contest, asked to cancel the employment agreement. However, he could not name the reasons.

On July 5th, the journalists of Mtskheta-Mtianeti Center wanted to receive documents from the Chancellery of local government regarding the request of public information and administrative complaints. The head of the security of the local government and City Council Temur Abulashvili did not let the journalists enter the building and verbally insulted them.

On the same day, the owner of the office where Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information Center is located under the lease agreement was called to the office of local government by the order of Zurab Otiashvili. The meeting was held in the office of Otiashvili. The director of Dusheti branch of State Care (Dusheti Care House for People with Limited Capacities) Darejan Tomadze, representative of Otiashvili also attended the meeting. They directly asked the owner of the office to cancel the lease agreement made with Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information Center and kick journalists out of the office. The same night, the owner of the Office visited Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information Center and warned the editor on duty to free the office in several days. The lady could not name the reason and just noted that her decision was such. We explained her that in case of cancelling the lease agreement the project implementation might be put at risk and refused to cancel the contract. Besides, we warned the owner of the office that in case of one-sided cancellation of the contract, we would address the court and request the material compensation.

On July 8th, the sister of owner of Mtskheta-Mtianeti office Nana P. was fired.

On July 15th, Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information Center published the photo reportage – Cow House in Ilia Chavchavadze’s Court. The Center reported that the former building of Dusheti Court where Ilia Chavchavadze worked as an arbiter in 1864-1873 is being ruined. The building which has a status of cultural heritage has become the cattle shelter. In Ilia’s “cabinet” and in the courtroom there is a cow house. The monument which used to be a state property all of a sudden became a private ownership of Member of Parliament Marina Molodini and one more private individual. On February 16th of 2011, Ilia Chavchavadze’s monument was stolen from the yard. On the same day the reportages were prepared by national TV channels. The Governor of Dusheti Municipality Lasha Janashvili resented by this news passed a message to journalist that “he would send her head to her mother like in Giorgi Saakadze movie.”

On July 29th, Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information Center published an article entitled “I was fired because I did not pick up the condoms”. The former employee of Dusheti Municipality Procurement Service Dodo Chokheli files complaint against Lasha Janashvili. “I was fired because I refused to pick up the condoms thrown out of the window of Zurab Otiashvili’s cabinet,” – Chokheli states.

On July 30th, one of the acquaintances of Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information journalist wrote her on facebook: “Otiashvili boasted, aren’t they afraid that suddenly their car might fail or gas container blow up?”

On August 2nd, the correspondent of Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information Center who visited the building of Dusheti municipality Manana Kveliashvili was attacked by a security guard. Her bag was seized and searched. According to the journalist, the head of municipality press service Irma Jangirashvili ran after the guards and asked them not to put anything in their bag. After the incident, Manana Kveliashvili and Zurab Otiashvili had following conversation: Zurab Otiashvili: why are you going away, do you think I will arrest you? Manana Kveliashvili: how can you arrest me? Zurab Otiashvili: why? I can’t beat you? Manana Kveliashvili: you are not the authorized person to arrest individual. You are an ordinary deputy of City Council! Zurab Otiashvili: I worked for the security for 15 years. I have arrested many…”

Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information Center is the only independent media outlet in the region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti operating since June of 2011 by the support of Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF). The goal of the organization is to prepare and disseminate journalism pieces by complying with the professional standards. For a while, Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information Center has been covering numerous facts of human rights violations and public problems. Particularly, big amount of money from the local budget is spent on salaries and bonuses; local government was completely unprepared to meet the natural disasters; defecations coming out from the damaged canalization of Dusheti and Zhinvali flow into the river Aragvi from which Tbilisi population is provided with drinking water; the reason of drowning of a child in the river Ukana Pshavi was not the disaster but badly constructed bridge which could not endure the overflowing of the river and got destroyed; the ethnographical museum is being destroyed; there is a cattle house in Ilia Chavchavadze court; several millions of money is spent for Dusheti water provision but the city had no drinking water and etc. Besides, Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information Center started to conduct journalistic investigation regarding the facts of corruption. The national TV, newspapers and information agencies have disseminated information based on the material of Mtskheta-Mtianeti Information Center.