23:04, 25 April 2007

Georgian ombudsman protests against eviction of Abkhazian refugees

The "people's defender" of Georgia has accused the patrol police of excess of power. Ombudsman Sozar Subari has declared that the police had no right to move out the Abkhazian refugees, who lived in the premises of the motor transport service in Vazisubani dwelling community.

Yesterday, on April 24, the patrol police used force to move out 8 Abkhazian refugee families without providing them with any alternative shelter. The refugees, including children, had to spend the night under rain.

Ombudsman Subari stated that the police had exceeded its powers as moved the people out before the court's ruling.

Meanwhile, Giorgi Giunashvili, the owner of the building, has already managed to move in, and declared that the refugees, who had seized the house, were breaching his ownership rights for five years.

It is not the first eviction case in relation to refugees. Last summer the Georgian police moved refugees out of hotels in Batumi.

Author: Alena Aleschenko, CK correspondent