Land Thief: Mikheil Khubutia holds Ministry of Internal Affairs and Government Responsible

Police station officials illegally seize privately owned real estate

86-year-old Mikheil Khubutia blames the Ministry of Internal Affairs, MIA, and Government for plight. The Ministry of Internal Affairs appropriated the plot of Khubutia in the village of Lia in Tsalenjikha District. It illegally started building an administrative building for the Lia police station Zugdidi on his property. Representatives of the United Nation even assisted them in the effort.  Khubutia is not going to stand down and wants his property back. He is prepared to go to court in order to protect his rights.

The Georgian Supreme Court registered 1480 square meters of on Mikheil Khubutia on 12 December 2005. Now it is clear that the conclusion of Civil, Entrepreneur and Bankrupt Chambers of the Supreme Court was considered as being illegal by local government authorities and representatives of the Samegrelo –Zemo Svaneti, MIA.   Somehow governmental had successfully convinced the leaders of the UN office in Zugdidi that all paperwork was in order. They asked the UN to help them with the project, and that they had the support of police department and Tsalenjikha Municipality government. Together, on behalf of the UN Peace Mission, financial support was then provided to lay the foundation of the planned administrative building. The actually footing was laid on 14 December 2007.

However, in follow up to the initial work, officials from the UN made a site visit a few days ago to see how things were progressing.  They even took photos of a one-story building. Only walls had been erected and nothing more.  This raised some questions as why things were not proceeding according to plan. No comments were made but they were trying to understand the situation on the ground. Consequently they applied to the Tsalenjikha District Municipality in seeking out information.

Gia Mebonia, Tsalenjikha district governor, attempts to demonstrate that the decision made in regard to the construction project under questions is proper and supported documents recorded in the Public Registry. “The Public Registry did confirm that non-agricultural land, which was under ownership of the state, was assigned to for the purpose of erecting the Tsalenjikha district police department. The intended purpose was for construction of an administrative building.  The decision was made back in 2004 and before the site was actually and before Gia was working in his current position. An extract from the Public Registry was then sent to Temur Sajaia, deputy chairperson of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for clarification.”

Kakha Jolokhava, the chairperson of the Tsalenjikha district Registration Service Office, refrains from making any comments about the situation. Instead, he requested that Ambako Samushia, his deputy, to provide an explanation on his behalf. The latter evaluated the paperwork about the land plot of 2 500 sq. meters and determined that it was state owned. This is supported by documents, “On December 7, 2004 Tsalenjikha district Municipality decided to assign the state property in the village of Lia to the police department. The Public Registry registered the plot on December 22 of the same year too… Misha Khuvutua is the owner of the land of 480 sq. meters and constructions is in the same area as well. The other constructions do not belong to him….”

On January 23 2008 Mikheil Khubutia received a reply from the Tsalenjikha District Public Registry. Kakha Jolokhava defined in his reply that the land of 2,500 sq. meters was registered, and the decision was based on the notary’s petition. The petition was enclosed with the notification of Khubutia, signed by the notary, where Khubutia refused to sign the purchase contract. 

Representatives of the executive authority approve their activities based on the above-mentioned notification and that it was under a notary’s seal. However Mikheil Khubutia claims that he was deceived and told how they attempted to fight him with fraudulent and forged documents. “In 2004 Giga Pipia, chairperson of the Tsalenjikha district Administration, asked me to come to the Notary Office. I was drunk at the time.  Pipia persuaded me to sign the document about transferring my real estate to the police department. However, I was ready to accept the offer in exchange of an alternative plot of land. Ineza Gabelia, the Notary, asked me to give her two empty sheets of papers with my signatures. I did not expect them to cheat me in such a dishonest way. The woman proceeded to draw up flawed documents….”

Yes, it may be possible to deceive a drunken man. However, the Georgian Supreme Court has since discovered fraudulent documents in the case. These materials have been in existence from the very beginning. However, they chose not to open discussion about the legality of land ownership issue, and did not take into consideration the various extracts from the Public Registry which identifies the actual owner.

Giga Pipia applied to the Tsalenjikha District Court about annulling the registration of the land early in 2005. He had argument with Mikheil Khubutua about the illegal privatization, including trade buildings that were located on the non-agricultural land of 1,480 sq. meters. Having appealed to all three court instances, the plot was finally registered under the ownership of Mikheil Khubutia.

However, just three years later and after the early decisions, Mikhel Khubutia found himself having to defend his ownership rights once again. What had been constructed by him on his land was destroyed to make way for the new police building.

Mikheil Khubutia: “I’d rather not complain about moral damages. Nonetheless, as for material damages, it has already amounted to a sum of 5,000 GEL. I petitioned to the UN, Prosecutor General, and Chairperson of the Georgian Parliament to suspend the illegal construction.  However, in spite of all my efforts, nobody even made the effort to notice me. I am not one to forgive anyone for infringing upon my property rights. Such people appear to act as they are more powerful than even the Georgian Supreme Court and the rule of law.  They do not care about the consequences of their actions.  I will fight them to the very end.”

Mikheil Khubutia was able to get access to documents that were drawn up at the Zugdidi Mazra (old term for district administration) that dated back to 1883. The document states that Grigol Dadiani (representative of Georgian noble family in Samegrelo Region) sold the housing estate and agricultural land to Pavle Khubutia, the grandfather of Mikheil Khubutia for 400 silver coins.

Mebrdzoli Chkadua, the lawyer. “We will try to protect the rights of Mikheil Chkadua through the courts. We have all evidence against those responsible for arbitrarily misappropriating the land. They should be held accountable under the law. We might also appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office regarding their free participation in what they knew to be a crime. The Georgian Criminal Code has taken such types of crime into consideration in its norms. At the moment we will bring a civil suit before the court. Firstly, we will demand to suspend all on-going construction works being carried out and that reimbursement of the material damage is made.”

Zaza Kvatsabia, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti regional coordinator of the Human Rights Center’s branch, defined that  in accordance to the Georgian Criminal Procedural Code, Article 265 none of judiciary bodies or public officials have right to change or cancel a decision of the Georgian Supreme Court. “The above-discussed situation results from illegal activities that were carried out by the authorities. Breaching the right on private property is now a common practice in Georgia.”

Nana Pazhava, Tsalenjikha