Property registration alongside the occupation line

Lado Bitchashvili, Shida Kartli

Illia Beruashvili, resident of Ditsi village in Gori municipality, which is located alongside the occupation line, appealed the National Agency of Public Registry [NAPR] in the court. He appealed refusal on the registration of the agricultural plot.

Ilia Beruashvili said the NAPR does not register the plot as his property, which he owns in fact but is not registered in the electronic data base of the Public Registry. NAPR sent letter to Ilia Beruashvili to inform about the negative decision and wrote that the plot is located beyond the boundaries of the Gori municipality and it is located in the occupied territory; consequently they cannot register the plot.

“People working in the NAPR search the agricultural plots in google search system. It is my assumption but I think I am right because the territories are not correctly marked in the google-search system, namely the border of South Ossetia. Gori municipality administration issued a notification that this plot, which I own and cultivate, is really my property and is not located in the occupied territory. I repeatedly took photos, measured the space and submitted to the Public Registry together with the notification that the plot is not in the occupied territory but finally they refused to register it as my property,” Ilia Beruashvili said, whose interests are defended in the court by the HRC Shida Kartli office lawyer.

“I hope the court will pass verdict based on which I will be able to register my property. My neighbors also have similar problems. Two prime-ministers (Ivanishvili and Garibashvili) and the Minister of Justice Tea Tsulukiani promised us to rapidly register the plots and houses of local residents in Ditsi village but nothing was done. 5 years have passed since 2013. If rapid procedures require five years, then I imagine how long other procedures may last. I am in struggle; I do not know what will be next step. Now we are waiting for the court decision. I hope they will pass fair decision. Unless I achieve positive results on the national level, I will appeal the Strasbourg court,” Ilia Beruashvili said.

HRC lawyer Aleksi Merebashvili is confused with the decision of the NAPR. He said, considering the situation alongside the occupation line, the state shall assist the locals to register their properties in the area. 

“Occupation is fact. It is inadmissible to declare the territory to be occupied, if it is not real fact. In this particular case, registration of the private property of the owner will be a decision, which would demonstrate the readiness of the state not to give up least part of its territory to the occupant party. Registration would guarantee that the private owner protected his right to property more effectively from the occupant not only through domestic legal mechanism but also with international law mechanisms. Nevertheless, the state deprives Ilia Beruashvili from this possibility,” HRC Shida Kartli office lawyer Aleksi Merebashvili said.

Beruashvili said the government shall support the families living in the villages alongside the occupation line so that they did not abandon the villages. He is not going to surrender and is waiting for the decision of the district court.