Traders from Zestaponi Request a Return to Old Market

Mari Tabidze, Zestaponi

On January 11, traders from the agricultural market Baraka requested a meeting with the majoritarian MP. They urged MP Gogi Kavtaradze to assist them in negotiations with the market’s owner. The traders want to continue trading in the old market and claim they will not work in the new building because of the high taxes, which they cannot afford.

The traders had been requesting a meeting with Kavtaradze for a long time. The head of his office in Zestaponi said that he was in Tbilisi. This irritated the traders, and they broke into Kavtaradze’s office by force. After law enforcement officers intervened, the traders left the office.

On the same day, market personnel received a notice from the administration saying that they had to leave the market site before January 14.

On January 12, the traders of the Zestaponi district market met with interim Chairman of the Zestaponi Municipal Board Tamaz Bezhuashvili to protest the decision of the market administration; the meeting turned into a controversy.

Bezhuashvili said he does not have information about market problems:

“I have little information about the market. I know that a new market was constructed and the old market is also functioning. Some traders want to enter the new market, some do not. I have not studied this problem and do not know what is going on. How can I discuss  it with people?” said Bezhuashvili.

Traders blame the Samadashvili brothers for the escalation of the situation. They said the agricultural market belonged to Omar Samadashvili, brother of Merab Samadashvili, former majoritarian candidate of the National Movement in the Nadzaladevi district in Tbilisi.

“The people of Zestaponi do not know how the Samadashvilis purchased the market nor how much they paid for it. Nobody knows them here, but every local knows that they have devastated Zestaponi,” said traders from the agricultural market.

The site of the old market, where traders request to continue trading, does not meet sanitary standards, and the road is damaged.

Traders said the road was dug up in order to repave it.

“They must pave the road to the market, which they dug up. Because of the damaged road, we have to sit outside in the rain and in the winter because customers cannot reach the building. Moreover, outdoor trading is prohibited, and if they repair the road, we will enter the building again,” said the traders.

Kakha Shavgulidze, a member of the Zestaponi municipal board said the prosecutor’s office will investigate this situation.

“Even the owner does not have the right to expel traders out of the premises in this way. The owner must provide them with clear reasons why they cannot enter the market site; afterwards, the traders will have a chance to appeal his decision.”

The traders applied to the government’s chancellery. They protested the deconstruction of the market and the seizure of trading places. MP Shalva Kiknavelidze from the parliamentary majority met them at the chancellery. He promised protesters to solicit the prosecutor’s office to start an investigation into the case.

Despite the MP’s promises, the protesters decided to move to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s business center. “If Bidzina Ivanishvili knew our problems, we would not have had to deal with them,” said traders.

Later, they requested a meeting with the chief prosecutor, Archil Kbilashvili. Kakhaber Tsereteli from the chief prosecutor’s office met traders at the business center, and they decided that the chief prosecutor would meet with a five-member group of protesters. The prosecutor’s office will supposedly study the case in detail.

Traders from the agricultural market held protest in front of Zestaponi local government on January 16th. The representatives of local government met with them. At 7 pm traders blocked main road connecting East Georgia to west Georgia. It was possible to restore traffic by police intervention. Since January 17th Office of Prosecutor started to study the problem existing between the traders and owner.