The Ministry of Internal Affairs will not Declare the Exact Number of the People Lost in the 2008 War

How many people were lost after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war? According to the Ministry of the Internal Affairs, only 7 people are lost. Although, the Human Rights Center journalistic investigation shows that the number of the lost people is much higher.

According to the information provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, seven people were lost after the war (both military individuals and the civilians): Qetevan Romelashvili, Shio Ninikashvili, Giorgi Beruashvili, Badri Shayulashvili, Iulia Tatulashvili, Davit Baqradze and Zaza Birtvelishvili.

While visiting the Gori region villages, the journalists of the Human Rights Center found out that there are lost people who are not included in the list. Therefore, the official data is incomplete.

23-year-old Grisha Nalbandovi was lost in Tyviavi. His father has been looking for him for 2 years now.

Nodar Nalbandovi, father of Grisha Nalbandovi: “My son was kidnapped by Ossetians on August 12th, 2008. I do not know anything since that. Last time he was seen in Tskhinvali with other captives. They were all put in school number 8. We addressed the Ministry of Internal Affairs and they recorded him. The Red Cross searched for him, but they found out nothing about him.”

46-year-old Bidzina Parkashvili was lost near the village Karaleti. He was also taken captive.

Gia Parkashvili, brother of Bizdina Parkashvili: “On August 13th, the Russian and Ossetian robbers had a post at the end of the village. They took Bidzina and eight more people. I know what happened from those people who were with them. Ossetian people were telling everyone that they had captives and anybody could kill them.”

Most of the captives were freed later, but nobody saw Bidzina. Parkashvili addressed the prosecutor’s office and the Red Cross. No information is revealed until now.

The Young Lawyers Association has information about both two captives. There is one more lost person recorded in the organization – Kakhaber Khubulobi. Khubulobi was detained in Gori, on the August 8, with several other people and taken to Tskhinvali. Nobody has seen him afterwards.

The Young Lawyers Association transferred all three cases (Khubulov, Parkashvili and Nalbandovi) to the prosecutor’s office.

The head of the “Union of Invalid Warriors and the Spouses of the Dead Warriors” Manana Mebuke says that she has information about three more lost people.

Manana Mebuke: “I can’t name people. We were addressed by our acquaintances. Nobody reported to the prosecutor’s office.”

As Manana Mebuke states, the official list of the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not include the names of these three people.

According to conflict management specialist, Paata Zaqareishvili, nobody looks for the lost people. “A commission that can be trusted by both sides should be established in order to meet people, conduct interrogations… For now the only thing I know is that Hammarberg (the commissioner of human rights of Counsel of Europe) is looking for lost, I don’t know anyone else who’s occupied with this issue.”

As for the Hammarberg, the office representative of the Counsel of Europe, Sabrina Buehler states that the people who they are looking for were not lost during the war.

The head of the organization “Disarmament and not Violence” Rima Gelenava says that there is a state commission which searches for lost people in the Ministry of the Internal Affairs. Currently, they are working on the August war issue, but their work is ineffective.

Rima Gelenava: “They’ve never found anyone. The relatives are continuing search by themselves. They independently contact the other side.”

The Human Rights Center several times addressed the Ministry of Internal Affairs by phone and in written form during a month to hear the responses on the questions concerning the lists of the lost people, but with no result. The representative of the Ministry Press Center, Zurab Gvenetadze promised that he will organize the interview, but after making the promise, he does not even answer our calls.

Finally, according to our documentations, we can ascertain that the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not know for sure the real number of lost, or is not showing it consciously. This is important considering that no other state department has such an official base. Correspondingly, the exact statistics concerning the number of lost during the war, is unknown. Besides, except for base, the measures taken for searching the lost, is ineffective. The evidence of it is the reality that majority of the lost people have not been found yet, their relatives are in complete informational vacuum and do not even know what phase the investigation is on.

The article is prepared in the frameworks of the project: “The facts of the forced disappearance in Georgia” – financed by the Eurasia Partnership Fund in the framework of the project financed by EU “Strengthening of the Media as a Controlling Institute in Georgia.” The content of the article does not represent the opinions and views of the EU and Eurasia Partnership Fund. The full responsibility on is imposed on Human Rights Center.