Georgian Dancers Were Kept in Isolator for 35 Hours in the Ukraine

Gela Mtivlishvili

Several days ago, in the Ukraine, members of the State Choreographic Ensemble “Gurjaani” were detained at the Custom-House at Mostinska Railway Station. The dancers were travelling to Polish city of Kotovitsa under official invitation of Polish Firm “Kolumbo”. Ukrainian custom officials detained the members of the ensemble for 35 hours; six members of the group were underage children. The dancers were arbitrarily detained and were not allowed to leave the isolator. According to the dancers, Ukrainian law enforcers called them bandits and threatened with liquidation if they did not obey their demands.

State Choreographic Ensemble “Gurjaani” was traveling to Kotovitsa, Poland via Ukraine. They left Tbilisi at night of March 12 and they had to give concert on March 15-17 in Poland. The hosting organization had reported that all tickets were already sold out; however, the members of the ensemble could not reach Poland. Custom officials at the Ukraine-Poland border, in the city of Mostinska, seized passports from the members of the ensemble and did not allow them to cross the border.

Paata Gurgenidze, art director of the ensemble “Gurjaani”: “We took flight to Kiev on March 12. At night of March 13 we got on Kiev-Kotovitsa train and started off for Poland. We had problems neither in Tbilisi nor in Kiev International Airports. We had all documents in order. We were officially invited to Poland and our visas were issued by Polish Consulate in Georgia. At the Customs of the Railway Station in Mostinska the officials got on the train and requested our passports. As soon as they learned we were from Georgia, they expressed aggression towards us. Several minutes later, one of the custom-officials stated the visa in the passport of Levan Kharitonashvili, one of our members, was damaged and he could not cross the border. I told the custom official we could not leave one member alone. He replied that another member could also stay and he showed one more passport to me. I demanded them to show what was damaged in those passports but they did not show. The custom officials took the passports with them. Several minutes later they returned and categorically stated to us that the people whose visas were damaged could not cross the border. I explained to them once more that nobody of us had visas damaged and our documents were in order.

During our argument the time for departure approached; nobody would have stopped the train for us and we could not leave the children alone; so we had to get off the train. While getting off the train the children told me they had seen the custom officials to tear off the visas in their passports. After the train left, criminal police of the town arrived at the railway station. Before the police arrived, custom officials openly stated to us that there was criminal group of 150 Georgian people in the town and they supposed we were members of that gang. They called us bandits. We were explaining to them that we were dancers but they did not listen to us. Finally, most of our visas were damaged. Policemen called various people and when they found out that we really were members of choreographic ensemble, they left us alone. However, the custom officials did not stop bothering us. They took us to the isolator and locked us in cells; we were not allowed to go out. 35 hours later we were not introduced to the court. Nevertheless, the judge fined us with 150 Euro for unclear reasons; they returned our passports and released us.”

Gocha Paposhvili, musician for the Ensemble “Gurjaani”: “We went back to Kiev by train. At the airport, police detained our member Levan Kharitonashvili for unclear reasons. They were dragging the child without explaining to us what was happening. Then they threatened us with detention too; but luckily Council of Georgia in the Ukraine arrived at the airport at that moment and assisted us to fly to Tbilisi. However, he kept our passports with him.”

Press and information department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia reported that Council Department has received a conclusion from the Ukraine which states that 8 members out of 12 of the ensemble had fabricated passports.”   

“This is data we received from the Ukraine. Now, Georgian side will also expertise the passports and if they turn out valid, then Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia will send protest note to officials in Kiev and demand punishment of those custom officials who abused their power. Besides that, after the expertise we will conclude what further measures can be taken,” said Ia Makharashvili, director of Press and Information Department at the Ministry.

 Avtandil Gurgenidze, the head of the State Choreographic Ensemble “Gurjaani” claims that passports of the ensemble members were not fabricated and they were issued by Kakheti service center of Public Registration Agency within the Ministry of Justice. He added that the ensemble is going to demand compensation for moral and material damage from the Ukrainian side.