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Soldiers of the Abkhazian Unit Flee Mukhrovani Military Base in Mass

March 25, 2008

Nana Pazhava, Zugdidi

Nearly 450 men from Sokhumi, Gagra, Ochamchire, Gudauta and Zugdidi, had gathered for the purpose of establishing an Abkhazian Unit, seeking to regain their homeland. However, they were soon disappointed. They had been taken to the Mukhrovani Military base under the pretext of serving out a four-year-contract with high salary, benefits and the opportunity to serve their country. However, soon they abandoned the unit out of protest. They consider themselves deceived and offended. The former soldiers then applied to the Human Rights Center’s Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Regional Office for assistance and they told their story.

Nearly 15 soldier having willfully left Mukhrovani Military Base, told representatives of the Human Rights Center about the situation they had endured in the last three days. It was learned that nearly 450 people left Zugdidi Auto Station on March 16 by coach and by the very next day, March 17, they had already started to leave the Mukhrovani Military Base. According to one of the versions nearly 350 soldiers have already left the base so far.

The people were frank in their stories but for various understandable reasons would rather remain anonymous. Several of them had already threatened and offended by the officials from the Military Police Department; thus the initials in the article are only pseudonyms.

S.G: “They told us Union of Warriors was going to be set up and we had to get ready to fight in Abkhazia. We were told to have four-year-contracts and the 1,600 GEL a month salary. However, some of us were only told that we would have 800 GEL. We signed the contracts in front of the central market in Zugdidi. Koba Ghurtskaia was organizer of the meeting and he introduced himself as the commander of the unit. Certain Tamaz Gelantia was with him who organized our transportation. We signed the contracts as if we were soldiers of a unit that was to perform duty in Iraq. At the end of the contract it was written “Abkhazian Unit”. We were told that part of us will be deployed in Kodori Valley and the other part will be in Pankisi Valley. However, finally we were taken to Mukhrovani base.”

The former soldiers told that in Mukhrovani they were introduced with the schedule of the unit and showed their places in the military dormitories. However, nobody inquired about them during the following two days; they were given food. On March 17 the 450 men were divided into the units of one hundred soldiers. The men who had fought in the past and doctors were separated. The great misunderstanding started at the Mukhrovani Military Base when high-ranking officials from the Defense Ministry informed the uniformed and armed soldiers that their monthly salary would be 300 GEL instead of what they had been promised.

Alongside the discontent of the soldiers the commanders became aggressive when they learned that most of the men just arrived on the base had never completed previous military service and most of them had never participated in the Georgian Abkhazian armed conflict.

G.E: “The commander was shouting why we had arrived there and who had brought us here. He claimed they needed people with military experience who knew Abkhazian territory very well. He ordered us to leave the base immediately. However, we had written in our applications about our military experience and in Zugdidi we were not required to have such experience. We had expected to gain the necessary military experience on the base. We resisted the commander and stated that we had arrived at Mukhrovani Military Base with the borrowed money and we could not go back. At our words he became even more irritated and started shouting: “Have you come here only to earn money?”

The insulting words of the commander encouraged the soldiers to make their final decision. Nearly 60 men took off military uniforms immediately and left the unit. They made a special statement before leaving the base: “We will never demand money in fighting for Georgian territorial integrity though we will not allow anybody to deceive, insult and treat us in such a manner”  

The board of the Mukhrovani Military Base did not like such an expression of our protest.

I.G: “One of the commanders “offered” us to take us to the Tbilisi Railway Station where he would “throw us out” of the car and from where we could take a train to Zugdidi. They were extremely cynical and although they thought they would not allow us to leave the base. However, we opened the gate with force and just walked away. The parent of one of the soldiers called the TV Company “Rustavi 2”. After that journalists might have called the Defense Ministry afterwards and but all the officials denied what had transpired.”

The officials from the Defense Ministry started to get worry because the information about the incident was being spread around. The soldiers told that on their way to Tbilisi military officers made an effort to hinder them but it was not constant and they reached their designation.

K.D: “Initially they caught us by Jeep, blocked our way and demanded us to return to the base. Several minutes later two more cars appeared. The head of the HQ, Usufashvili was pleading with us. “My boys, please, go back with us; it was simple misunderstanding; we thought you had taken part in the war.” But we were determined and continued on our way. Finally three military police cars blocked us; we were on our way to Tbilisi during five hours and we were thirsty… Finally we were promised to send us to Zugdidi by bus.”

Instead bus, fleeing soldiers were provided by two military trucks which had to take them to Zugdidi but on the central high-way they were dropped off near Gori.

D.G: “When we approached Gori we were afraid they would force us into some base and beat us. One of us pretended to feel bad and made the driver to stop the truck and we took off running in different directions …we gathered at Gori Railway Station where we asked policemen to help us in travel for Zugdidi for free and they helped us to take the train home for free.”

Another part of soldiers who left Mukhrovani Base on March 18 remained at the Senaki Military Base.

K.G:”In Mukhrovani we were promised they would send us to Zugdidi by bus. The commander met us at Senaki Military Base whose name was Misha. As later we were explained that they had not received any direction as to accepting us for military service …soon a verbal disagreement turned into a physical confrontation. The commander went about insulting and scolding us. Finally, we reached the Senaki Railway Station and nearly 40 people arrived in Zugdidi at 4:00 AM.”

The soldiers fled from Mukhrovani Military Base have recorded the video of their cluster with Georgian soldiers on their mobile-phones. The video-recordings also show those high-ranking officials who were blocking fleeing soldiers on their way back to Tbilisi.

Former soldiers try to protect their rights though they are also afraid that they will be harassed. The positions of the Defense Ministry and Koba Ghurtskaia, supposedly officials from the Ministry, are not known yet; thus far it has been impossible to contact them for comment.

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