Court temporarily suspended the sale of the sport ground in Ruisi village

Lado Bitchashvili, Shida Kartli

Locals protest the sale of the sport ground in Ruisi village of Kareli municipality. They said the Kareli municipality city hall put the territory of the sport ground up for the auction without informing the village population about it.

“If they sell it, how will the village benefit from it? The funds will be transferred to the municipal budget and the village will not get any benefits from it; they will not allow us to approach the sold territory because it will be the private property. Maybe, one day, the state will decide to construct a sport complex in the territory but after selling it out, they will not be able to do so,” local Levan Egnatashvili said. 

The Kareli municipality city hall is selling the sport ground in Ruisi for 95 000 GEL. The locals said the construction of the parking for electro-mobiles is planned in the area. 

“When we learned that they are selling out the sport ground, half of the village went out in the street. We are against it. We will block the road and will not allow the owner to enter the territory and start construction there,” the residents of Ruisi village said.

One of the protesters Lado Buziashvili said the Kareli municipality assembly allowed the city hall to sell the territory without asking the opinion of the local population; they did not consider the reasonability of selling out the sport ground.

“The sport ground was put up for auction upon the agreement of the Kareli municipality city hall and the assembly that was violation of the law. It is prohibited to put the sport ground on an auction but the Kareli municipality city hall first announced the auction and then changed the status of the land,” Lado Buziashvili said.

Kareli municipality mayor Zaza Guliashvili said the population is deceived. Guliashvili said the stadium will be surrounded with fence and the adjacent land will be sold.

“What we are selling in Ruisi is the adjacent plot of the sport ground. They have misled the population; the sport ground will not be sold. We will spend the income from the sold land on the renovation of the Ruisi sport ground,” Kareli Municipality Mayor Zaza Guliashvili said.

The clarifications of the municipality mayor could not comfort the residents of Ruisi village and they applied Human Rights Center for help. HRC lawyer Aleksi Merebashvili collected information which showed that the city hall had put the part of the sport ground up for auction. With the legal aid of Human Rights Center, the residents of Ruisi village appealed the Khashuri district court. Based on the court ruling, Kareli municipality city hall was prohibited to sell the disputed property through privatization before the final judgment of the court.

“Residents of Ruisi village applied Human Rights Center for help to stop the privatization process of the village sport ground. Considering the fact that only one day was left before the deadline of the announced auction, we appealed the Khashuri district court and requested to annul the acts based on which the sport ground was inserted on the list of properties on sale. We also requested to prohibit the local government to privatize it. Khashuri district court accepted our solicitation and prohibited the Kareli city hall to sell the disputed property through privatization. Therefore, although the auction is over, the Kareli municipality city hall cannot receive money from the purchaser and sign any agreements with them until the court passes final judgment over the case,” HRC lawyer Aleksi Merebashvili said.

The Khashuri district court temporarily suspended the realization of the sport ground at 17:00 pm on December 20, few minutes after the auction of the city hall had finished. Only one person participated in the auction and won it. However, after the ruling of the Khashuri district court, the municipality city hall temporarily suspended assignment of the sport ground territory to the new owner.