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One-Month Chronology of Violations, Human Rights Abuse and Militarization In Abkhazia

June 3, 2009

Media-Center of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia published a chronology of violations, human rights abuses and militarization of the region in the occupied Abkhazia. The chronology covers the period of time from May 1 to May 31. The report was prepared based on various sources from Abkhazia. All information has been confirmed.

May 1. The number of Russian military vehicles and equipment has increased at the Abkhazia-Samegrelo administrative border. 20 military trucks, so called “Urals”, 14 armored cars and about 300 Russian soldiers are deployed near the bridge on the Enguri River. Some of the occupiers moved from Sukhumi and the Gudauta military base to the bridge over the Enguri River.

The So called “frontier police” of the occupiers started to plant shells and to stretch wires at the administrative border.

May 1. Occupiers sent new units to the Upper Abkhazia and Russian soldiers occupying the houses of Georgian people who fled from the area. Military trucks loaded with weapons, armored vehicles and anti-aircraft artillery were deployed in the area. So-called “Abkhazian frontiers forces” of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation have been deployed in the village of Azhara in Upper Abkhazia. Residents of Abkhazia cannot travel to Upper Abkhazia without special permits.

May 3. Nikolai Lisinski, head of Regional Management of the Federal Border of Russia, stated that the occupier will use modern equipment including watching by video system, planes without pilots and location systems to control the border.

May 3. Transportation through the administration border of the Zugdidi-Gali districts is restricted. Russian soldiers at the bridge over the Enguri River do not allow citizens to cross the bridge and they demand that they provide special permits. Occupiers have brought additional construction materials into the district.

May 3. Russian frontier police install wires and video signal equipment at the Samegrelo-Abkhazian administrative border. Occupiers are going to cover the border with control carpet as well. Observers of the EU monitor the process from the Bridge on the Enguri River.

May 4. Russian occupiers arrested Merab Danelia, a resident of the village of Chuburkhinji in the Gali district near the Napatu settlement at the administrative border. He was arrested for an illegal crossing of the border and he was delivered to the Abkhazian militia.

May 4. Russian occupiers sent additional military equipment and soldiers to the villages of Dikhazurga, Lekukhona, Saberio and Chuburkhinji and they deployed at the blockposts.

May 4. Criminals kidnapped from his own house Inver Sharia, a resident of the Gali district,  and demanded 100 000 USD for his release.

May 4. Members of a criminal gang kidnapped 82-year-old Galaktion Basilia from the village of Nabakevi and demanded money for his return.

May 7. Late at night, occupiers sent additional unit of soldiers and weapons into the Gali district by military trucks.

The so-called “administrative border” is being surrounded by wires. The frontier police will be deployed from the Kodori Valley to Pichori. “In doing so we will close the entire border with Georgia that is 168 kilometers long,” said Major-General Iuri Zvirik, head of the Russian “FSB” in Abkhazia.

Russian soldiers offer money to local residents to leave their houses.

May 8. All night long Russian military forces were moving in Abkhazia. Military aircraft were controlling the movement of military vehicles and soldiers. Military vehicles were moving in the following villages of Gali district: Saberio, Cheghali, Nabakevi and Otobaia.

May 13. A Bus was blown up by a shell near the administrative border with Abkhazia. Passengers were injured.

May 13. The Enguri Bridge is closed. Separatists restricted the movement across the bridge in the second half of the day. They demanded 200 Russian rubles from passengers to enter the Gali district.  Previously people paid only 100 Rubles that is 5 GEL.

Less than a division of Russian military forces from Psou entered the bridge. They brought booths from there. Representatives of the general state that custom houses will start working at the bridge.

May 13. The Abkhazian separatist government petitioned the government of the Russian Federation to change the passports of Abkhazian citizens which indicate Georgia  as  the Place of Birth in the passports. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia agreed to make the changes.

May 13. Parallel to the NATO military training in the Vaziani military base in Tbilisi the puppet regime of Abkhazia started military training in Sukhumi.

May 13. At a meeting in Sukhimi representatives of the enforcement and active institutions discussed the issue of opening custom-houses at the Enguri River. People who want to cross the bridge should pay a fee in Russian rubles equivalent to 10 GEL and they also should provide special permits.

May 14. The bridge linking the village of Meore Otobaia in the Gali district and Zugdidi was closed. The reason for and term of the closing is not reported to local residents. Russians and Abkhazian separatists together control the border..

May 14. Speaker of the Russian Duma, Boris Grizlov, visited Sukhumi and offered Abkhazian separatists to take part in the preparation activities for the Sochi Olympiad. Boris Grizlov stated they need to hire 100 000 workers and these people can be settled in Abkhazia for a short time.

May 15. Russian occupiers closed every medical center in the Gali district which were supplied from Tbilisi. The district does not have doctors. Russian aggressors continue reinforcement of the administrative border at the Enguri River. They claim that the only road through the border will be the central bridge of the Enguri River and that only Russians will control the customs house there.

May 19. Russian occupiers and Abkhazian separatists threatened to expel from the district several teachers in the Gali district. The teachers refused to take part in the trainings for “Learning Russian Language”.

May 19. To restrict the movement of local residents, Russian occupiers started to dig out all paths and roads in the villages of the lower zone of Gali.

According to current information local residents can travel along the roads and paths in Shamgoni, Enguri River and Saberio but Russian soldiers control these roads.

May 19. Russian doctors will work at every medical center, hospital, out-patient clinic and first aid service center in the Gali district. Sergei Mikhailov, commander of border forces of the Russian Security Department, brought 32 doctors into the district. The doctors were settled in the houses of selected Georgian people in the Gali district.

May 19. Russian occupants asked teachers in the Gali district to join the political party “Edinaia Rosia”.

May 19. A gang of criminals kidnapped local resident 60-year-old Mediko Chkheria and demanded money from his family.

May 19. Separatists are negotiating with a Russian company to lease Babushera Airport for ten years. According to information distributed, the airport will be reconstructed before the Sochi Olympiad.


May 20 – The disposition of the subdivision of the federal frontier management of Russian security continues.
The occupants are going to open two sections. One section will be overland and will be placed in the Gali region.  The location of the maratime section will be in Gagra. A total of about 20 posts will be in the two sections.

After establishing the sections the Russian border guards will begin to control the whole so-called “border” of Georgia-Abkhazia. To control the whole so-called “perimeter of the border” Russians are going to fix the newest apparatus of the electro-laser system on a 68-kilometer administrative border.

May 20 – The Georgian police officers of Tsalenjikha were shot from the village of Saberio by fire-arms. The shooting lasted 10 minutes. The shooting began after the Georgian law officers managed to retrieve a mini bus which belonged to Mendoza Kutalia living in Zugdidi. The mini bus was stolen and taken in the direction of the village of Saberio of the Gali region.  Armed people took the mini bus away from Mendoza Kutalia and tried to take it to the Gali region. However, the Georgian law officers prevented them from doing that. The attackers hid in a location in the direction of Gali.

May 20 – Countrymen found Medea Chekheria unconscious in the forest. A week ago Medea Chekheria had been kidnapped from the village of Nabakevi in the Gali region. She was tortured. For a week she had been tied to a tree by the brigands.

May 24 – The Russian occupiers shot from the so-called “post” of the village of Otobaia at the house of Gocha Gulaia living in the village of Orsantia in the Zugdidi region. The house of Gocha Gulaia was riddled. By the 15 bullets that had been shot at it.

May 24 – The Abkhazian separatist government decided to give Babushari airport and the Abkhazian railway to Russia.

May 25 – An 8-year old child was blown by the explosive left by the occupiers.

May 25 – A Russian launch entered the Georgian territory of Pichori. A helicopter followed it. Before these activities the occupiers brought new armored vehicles into Nabakevi. Now the new post is opening where the Abkhazian control post was before.

May 25 – Sergey Baghapsh, the separatist leader, made the statement that the Abkhazian so-called “Security Council” is going to discuss the legislative changes about “immovable property”. This will allow Russian citizenss to buy immovable property in Abkhazia.

May 25 –Tthe Turkish newspaper Hurieti published the scandalous information that Beneton was going to open a shop in Sokhumi in the future.

According to Zeinab Sulep, the representative of Beneton, Abkhazia was a strategic location on the historical route of the Silk Road and Benetton considered that it would be very important to open the shop there.

May 27 – The Russian Company Rosneft is going to acquire and recycle gas and oil in occupied Abkhazia. Sergey Bogdanchikov, the head of Rosneft, made the statement about it. Kristina Ozgan, the minister of economiy of the separatist government, signed the agreement with Rosneft. The agreement was signed for a 5-year term.

May 27 – About 300 Russian soldiers and heavy vehicles entered the village of Tagiloni. The occupiers put the heavy vehicles in the gardens of IDPs. Russian military personnel spent that night in tents.

May 27 – The criminals kidnapped Aslandzia from the village of Mukhuri in the Gali region and demanded 100 000 USD as ransom.

May 28 – Rosneft is going to work in Abkhazia, as in an independent country. The press service of the company responded in such a way to the statement of the Georgian Foreign Minister. Rosneft, as a state company, follows the policy of the Russian Federation. The company stated that “We chose Abkhazia as a work place that was recognized as an independent country by Russia.”

May 31 – Russian occupiers are continuing to strengthen the administrative border of Enguri. Russian riot police came to block the so-called “border”. The dog experts had already come to the scene. The helicopters were flying. The occupiers are going to make another post on the Enguri Bridge.

At this time, the Russian aggressors do not let any bus go to Zugdidi. They seized the documents of the passengers and they even seized the products which the passengers were taking to the market to sell.

May 31 – The residence of Demur Aslandzia, the governor of the village of Mukhuri in the Gali region, still is unknown. The kidnappers are demanding 100 000 USD.

Abkhazian Media-Center

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