As a result of the involvement of the Human Rights Center, a Turkey based NGOs and representatives of the Georgian Foreign Ministry Georgian citizens locked in the hotel in Turkey were finally set free.
Three Georgian citizens were kept hostages in the hotel “Bahar” in Istanbul for three months. Twenty-three-year-old S.T, T.B and thirty-two-year-old N.O. crossed Georgian border in April of 2008 with the support of certain Iuza Kunchulia; the latter had been paid 10 000 Euro for the assistance. According to the agreement Kunchulia had to take the young people to Greece. However, their passports were taken from them and there was nobody to pay the hotel bill for them. The Georgian citizens were not allowed to leave the hotel room. They were forced to do various jobs to cover their costs.
Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti