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Georgian Citizen against the Russian Federation

March 11, 2008
Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

On October 20, 2006 Russian policemen arrested thirty-one-year-old Lia Shioshvili, mother of four children in her own house in Ruza, Russia. Without having informed anyone they locked the pregnant woman in the district police isolator for preliminary detention along with her young children.

According to the Georgian Frontier Police Department, 7004 Georgian citizens were deported from Russia to Georgian from 2006-2007. The lawyers assess that the deportations were carried out in blatant violation of the European Convention. Consequently, Georgia brought a suit to the Human Rights European Court against the Russian Federation to protect the rights of the deported Georgians; the country demands material compensations for the deported people. The latter appealed to the Strasbourg Court individually too. The court has already accepted the suit of Lia Shioshvili.

Mass deportation of Georgian citizens from the Russian Federation followed the arrest of Russian officers in Georgia and accusing them of espionage. As a result, representatives of the Russian Migration Department began arresting ethnic Georgians throughout the Russian Federation and sent them home in cargo planes. Ethnic Georgians were harassed in Moscow and neighboring cities and an atmosphere of fear was created against Georgians in the country. Among the detained ethnic Georgians detainees were also ethnic Georgians who were Russian citizens who had all documents in order…

“We, Georgian people, were abused in Russia since Georgian-Russian relationship became strained; but the situation worsened in 2006 - we were hunted. We could not go out in the street to buy food and we asked those Georgian people who were Russian Citizens to help us. However, later they also encountered problems. Russian policemen arrested ethnic Georgians or people with Georgian surnames and even those who were born in Georgia without any official grounds. Nobody explained to us what the reason of our detention was and they treated us very rudely,” said Lia Shioshvili.

The woman said that during the detention her passport was seized because her fourth child was not registered.

“My fourth child was born in Russia and I could not take documents for him for various reasons. After making repeated appeals, the Russian police allowed me to take a birth certificate of my child from the Georgian Council in Russia. As soon as I got my child back they ordered me to leave the Russian Federation before the next morning. Otherwise they would definitely arrest me. Since direct flights to Tbilisi from Russia were already banned in November of 2006, I and other deported people were forced onto a train to Azerbaijan,” Lia Shioshvili recalled.

Russian law enforcers arrested Georgian people in the train to Baku at the Dagestan-Azerbaijan border.

“Armed policemen rushed into the train and started asking loudly who the Georgians were among the passengers. They took our passports. I applied to employees of the Russian Migration department who were in the tenth compartment, but having returned to my compartment I could not find my children there. The policemen had taken them. Children were screaming and I found them finally. We spent the night in the street. On the next day we stayed at the hotel and payed for the expenses. A fourteen-year-old boy was with us who was expelled from Russia all alone. He endured many emotional difficulties. Two weeks later they decided to send us to Baku but before the departure, policemen tried to take my fourth child away again claiming only three children were registered in my passport. I hardly manage to leave Russia with all my children. We walked several days from one of the Azerbaijan cities to the Georgian border,” said the deported woman.

Due to the long journey Lia Shioshvili suffered a nervous breakdown. Her children also suffered from trauma and need medical treatment, which they cannot afford because of poor social conditions.

“On December 15, 2006 I gave birth to the fifth child in Gurjaani Maternity House; the child was born dead. The doctor told me that it was result of my nervous breakdown. Three-year-old Dodo needs psycho-neurological treatment. I have applied to the local government for financial support but in vain,” said Lia.

On March 26, 2007 Georgian Government appealed to the Human Rights European Court against the Russian Federation. It is the first appeal against Russia when the neighbor country needs to defend its right from other country. The Russian Ministry of Justice has already submitted a counter appeal where they claim the Georgian complaints are groundless. The Russian Ministry of Justice categorically demands the Georgian Government to admit that deportation of Georgian citizens in 2006 had not been planned and the process did not run along ethnic lines.

Lia Mukhashavria, a lawyer who has experience working at the Human Rights European Court, considers the suit “Georgia against Russia” might become a topic of bargaining.

“When the Georgian Ministry of Justice was working on the draft appeal I offered them my participation but they refused. I think the society should be informed what violations are mentioned in the suit and what the suitor demands in it. Since it is not done I think Georgia is not eager to win the case bit our government is getting ready for some negotiations. If individual appeals of deported people are well drafted and they provide exact facts of breached rights envisaged under the European Convention, they would have more chance to win trials,” said Lia Mukhashavria.

Human Rights European Court have not earmarked the case discussion on “Georgia against Russian” until July of 2008.

In accordance with the law, the parties are able to resolve the controversy at any time after which they have the right to withdraw their appeals from the court.

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