Staff Changes, Dictatorship and Detention - A Series of Unfortunate Events in Gurjaani

Staff Changes, Dictatorship and Detention - A Series of Unfortunate Events in Gurjaani 

For past few weeks, active staff changes have been held in Gurjaani, changes which resulted in the mass detention of public officials. Organizations Defending Human Rights in the area express their concern at the current events and protest against the dictatorial treatment by the authorities of local governmental staff.

Article 34, of the Georgian Common Administrative Code, states that Public Office meetings must be publicized in advance. Except for several exceptions, the date, place and schedule of the meeting must be announced a week before it is held. Practice shows however, that meetings are announced only to those journalists whom the Temporary Governor desires to see.  Public information is now kept totally secret in complete violation of the law.

Insulting words from the Temporary Governor, Akaki Sikharulidze, come as no surprise to representatives of the NGO, the ‘Human Rights Information and Documentation Centre’, although, they are concerned at his manner of dealing with people. “Don’t mumble…stop your chattering. I am not interested in you giving reports; show me the work done, the work. I am starting staff reductions in public services. You can either thank the old people who are clinging to their positions or just send them on their way without thanks. Do not put up with resistance. I do not care if 25 people are left even in Administrative Board instead of 90. Is it clear? Don’t make me repeat it once more!” Akaki Sikharulidze replied to those colleagues who tried to give a speech at the last meeting of the board.

One of those at the meeting was Asmat Kokolishvili, head-mistress of the Gurjaani Kindergarten #1. “The conclusions drawn by the Legality Study Commission, which was formed according to the Temporary Governor’s orders, are absolutely false and slanderous. The initiative to form the commission came from Sikharulidze’s close aid, Manana Djadjanashvili. This person was terrorizing teachers for years while she worked in the Regional Educational Department. She could not pass the tests for employment in the Resource Centre, although Mr. Akaki did not leave her without a job and created a ‘section on the relationship with pre-school-age facilities’ in the Administrative Board. She keeps on terrorizing teachers and nobody is being held responsible for this illegality,” states Asmat Kokolishvili, whose speech seriously irritated the Temporary Governor who strongly demanded she stop speaking. 

The statement, made against the commission caused some difficulties for Kokolishvili. The Investigation Department of the Financial Police, Kakheti Office, launched preliminary investigation on appropriation of funds and embezzlement. The Financial Police accuse the governing board of the kindergarten of appropriating funds. An investigation has been launched; the accountant’s documentation will be inspected, which will prove the amount of the appropriated sum, so the Financial Police Investigators state. The investigation has been launched under article 182 of the Georgian Criminal Code (appropriation and embezzlement). They state in the Kindergarten that Akaki Sikharulidze asked the Financial Police to inspect their office.

The Deputy Governor, Zaza Natsvlishvili, was also severely rebuked for Kokolishvili’s speech at the Administrative Board meeting. “You should not keep such people in their positions for such a long time. You are rebuked,” stated Sikharulidze to Natsvlishvili and then fired him just after the meeting.

Amiran Okroshidze, class-mate of the Temporary Governor, was appointed as the Deputy Chief of the Administrative Boards Infrastructure Department. The reason for his appointment was his friendship with the ‘leader’, and the many ‘praises’ he gave the Governor on local television, saying that very soon Gurjaani would be changed for better thanks to him. It is uncertain what Archil Solomonashvili’s duties would be, as he graduated as a vet from a zoology college. According to current information he is likely to be demoted.

Alternations in staff have not reflected on another Deputy Governor, Nugzar Kvatsashvili, who has managed to fit in with every government so far, nor has anybody shown interest in his less than exempt past service. It is notable that even today he continues to rummage around in Tax Services to please the Governor. 

So far the staff cuts have resulted in the detention of the Temporary Governor’s Assistant, Rezo Abulashvili, the former director of the Regional Centre for Social Healthcare. A short time ago, the Temporary Governor himself sent a letter to the Financial Police, where he demanded a response to legal violations and informed them that Abulashvili was a ‘criminal’, despite the fact that it was he who had appointed him as his assistant.

Alongside the staff changes, several high-ranking officials were also detained in Gurjaani. Special Operation Department (SOD) officials detained Nino Barnabishvili, who was working at the Sighnaghi Branch of the TSU Department, for being bribed. According to some information, Barnabishvili was denounced to the ‘SOD’ by Izo Kharazashvili, a former employee at the Gurjaani Administration and Boris Mamisashvili, someone close to the Temporary Governor. Both of the aforementioned people deny this information. The detainee was sentenced to two months preliminary imprisonment by the Telavi Regional Court and despite her poor health; they refused to transfer her to the jail hospital.

Irma Bitskinashvili, an employee at the Gurjaani Administration’s Social Aid Department, was also detained a short time ago, but was released by the Gurjaani Court Judge, Shalva Mchedlishvili, after paying bail (of 2,000GEL). As information shows, Bitskinashvili’s detention relates with her former job. She worked at the Gurjaani Office of Civil Acts Registration Department for years.

It is supposed that the ‘list of detainees’ is not yet complete, as according to official information, the detention of several former and present high-ranking officials is planned; among them are two officials from the Administration. The same information shows that mass detentions are to be held in other parts of Kakheti by the Kakheti Regional Office of the Special Operations Department.

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti