“Terrorist Act Did Not Happen Near You”-Families Living Close to Gori Police Station Are Being Persuaded

“The explosion was so great that the cars standing in the street were thrown away into our yards. The ground was covered with smashed glasses. The roof of our house ruined. The explosion damaged the ceiling of the theatre that was located 500 meters away from the scene of accident; so, just imagine how seriously it could damage us. We had just repaired our house and the rain was not leaking in the rooms. But now the rain drips in all three rooms and bathroom too. On that day my husband was sitting in the booth (we are selling some products in it) and luckily somebody called him out, otherwise he would have definitely died by the explosion,” said Zhuzhuna Tsartsidze, a resident of Gori who recalls the day of terrorist act, February 1, 2005…

Zhuzhuna Tsartsidze lives several meters away from the Gori Regional Police Station. On that day she left her daughter at home and went to the market for shopping.

“I met my niece in the street. She told me there was explosion near the police station and it destroyed all buildings located close to it. I rushed home like a mad,” said Tsartsidze.

All her family members were alive though the newly-repaired house was seriously damaged. All window glasses were smashed, drainpipe was removed from the wall, the ceiling moved up and the glass gallery was completely destroyed…

Several minutes after the accident Internal Ministry, Vano Merabishvili arrived in Gori and gave immediate briefing where he promised to reimburse the damage to all local residents. Soon local government set up special commission to estimate the amount of damage. Every family living in the buildings close to the Regional Police Department were inserted on the list. Another three families living a bit far from the scene of accident were inserted on the list too. The rest of local residents were declared that they were not victims and Tsartsidze’s family was among them.

“We expected them to repair our house after they finished the reconstruction of the first building, but nobody paid attention to us. So, on February 8, we sent our first petition to the Municipality and it was followed dozens of other letters; though nobody ever draws their attention to us. When we inquired about the answer at the Municipality they answered they had not received any petition regarding the topic.”

“Soon after the explosion Mikheil Kareli, (President’s Representative to the Shida Kartli Region) and his deputy, Gela Zoziashvili arrived at the place and promised their assistance to us. We were waiting for them to start repair works in our flat for eight days and we are still waiting for his assistance. They were sending us to various institutions and we have written plenty of petitions but in vain,” said Zhuzhuna Tsartsidze.

Victims of the terrorist act applied to the law enforcement bodies. They petitioned to the Prosecutor’s Office but since that time Shida Kartli Regional Prosecutor, Mikheil Abuladze was scandalously resigned from the position, nobody discussed their petition for several months. Finally it was sent to the court but there has been no result.

“The trial was held at the court and only those families were assisted who were inserted on the first list of damaged families. Residents of our block of flat also arrived at the court but initially guard did not let us in because we were not on the list. Finally, a boy helped us to get in and we attended the hearing. I got furious when I saw that there were several families on the list of damaged ones who had only one window glass smashed during the explosion,” said Ms. Zhuzhuna.

Victims of the terrorist act stated that the government gave them only window glasses. Nobody paid attention to the fact that rain is leaking in their flats.

“Once, when we visited the Administrative Board, they told us that terrorist act did not happen close to us. If it is right why did they accept my petition on nine “steklos” (Russian for glass); they should at least have changed broken roofing slates with old ones. I could not lift up slates to the roof of the third-storied building,” said Ms. Zhuzhuna who added that “I am from Imereti region and they laughed at me when I said “steklo” instead of glass. They made me write another petition but have not done anything.”

Zhuzhuna Tsartsidze cannot buy medicines for her ill child. She is sorry because she cannot understand what was 80 000 lari spent on; that money was apportioned to assist damaged families.

“We cannot repair the ceiling ourselves. We can hardly earn money for bread. I am seventy-seven and what can I do at my old age? My husband was decorated with medal for labor hero. One drawer is full of his medals and certificates but it does not matter now…The ceiling is pulling down in my flat. At the court they advised me to hire a lawyer but how can I pay him for the service…”

Zhuzhuna Tsartsidze now has only one hope and it is the president…

“We have not petitioned to him yet and we are going to apply to him now. But if he does not help us, we would say that we are living in an unprotected country and lose final hope.”

Marlen Nadiradze is the chairman of Gori Municipality at present. In 2005 he was Deputy Gubernator of the Shida Kartli Region. Nadiradze was also chairman of special commission that was to estimate the amount of damage made by the terrorist act. Nadiradze denies that the house, located several meters away from Regional Police Station, was damaged by the explosion. 

“The building is too old and the ceiling was in poorest conditions. The terrorist act had nothing to do with its cracks and we could not insert the building on the list of damaged houses. According to the court’s decision only those families were found victim whose houses were seriously damaged by the explosion. Those three families were not found victim because, as far as I know, only their cars were damaged.”

“They set up two commissions regarding the accident. One of them was created at the Internal Ministry and they reimbursed essential part of damage as well as cars of damaged people. When our commission examined that particular house, it concluded that the ceiling was in bad conditions; the house was amortized and needed immediate reconstruction. But at the moment there are not enough funds in the budget to repair houses in similar conditions and next year we will apportion money for the purpose,” said Nadiradze.

Neither Marlen Nadiradze nor Gela Zoziashvili (Deputy Gubernator of Shida Kartli Region) can remember how much money was apportioned to compensate victims of terrorist act from the budget. Nadiradze stated that the materials had already been sent to archives. However according to our information 80 thousand lari was apportioned from the budget on the purpose. That money was spent on fixing window glasses in the buildings located close to the Regional Police Station.

Thea Tedliashvili, Gori