Categories
Journalistic Survey
Articles
Reportage
Analitic
Photo Reportage
Exclusive
Interview
Foreign Media about Georgia
Editorial
Position
Reader's opinion
Blog
Themes
Children's Rights
Women's Rights
Justice
Refugees/IDPs
Minorities
Media
Army
Health
Corruption
Elections
Education
Penitentiary
Religion
Others

Population VS Mother Superior of Bodbe Nunnery (Part 1)

March 12, 2009

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

Residents of Kedeli settlement in St. Nino Street in Sighnaghi oppose Mother Superior of Bodbe Nunnery. Locals claim that the Mother has been appropriating their territories illegally for several years already. Those people, who refuse to give in their land to the monastery for free or for cheap price, face unbearable conditions.

What Is Yours Is Mine

 

Tsiala Gorelishvili: Now I live in Tbilisi but I have a house in Kedeli settlement in Sighnaghi where I was born and lived there with my parents. There is a plot around the house. During Communist regime the government deprived the part of the plot from us but we could not register another part of it. In summer, 2008 I applied to the corresponding commission of Sighnaghi Municipality Board for the registration who worked within the Presidential Program; however, the commission did not discuss my application at all. Meanwhile, the amendments were introduced to the law and Public Registry was authorized to register estates as private properties. Despite that, the document issued by the Municipality Board is still necessary. Several days ago I applied to the Municipality Board but there is no reply yet.

Lali Kokolashvili: I have my parent’s house in Kedeli settlement though I could not register it on my name. I applied to Sighnaghi Municipality Board and requested to register the house on me; I provided all necessary documents but in vain. Officials from the Municipality Board did not explain to me why they had not discussed my application. After amendments were introduced to the Law I applied to Sighnaghi office of Public Registry where I was explained that I had to produce conclusion issued by the Municipality Board; however, the Municipality Board did not issue the document. Besides that, I was explained at the Public Registry that they have a map provided by the Monastery according to which the territory where our houses are located belongs to the Monastery. Nuns from the Monastery claim that before 1908 there was not Kedeli settlement there and those who lived in the area were slaves of the Monastery. It is false; people lived in Kedeli and only some of them served in the church. It does not mean that every resident of Kedeli was slave and should be slave now too.

Vladimer Alikoshvili, resident of Kedeli, 85 years old: I was born and grown up here; my parents lived here too. In autumn of 2008 I brought Omar Tsakiashvili, Specialist of Technical Bureau of Sighnaghi, here to measure my plot; he gave technical passport to me. When I produced the document to Sighnaghi Public Registry Giorgi Varamashvili, an official from the Agency, refused to register the plot on me. He said he could not register the land unless I produced the agreement from the Mother Superior of the Monastery. I did not apply to the Mother because I knew she would refuse. She has warned everybody that the entire territory belongs to the monastery and nobody registers property on us without her permission.
 
Lately, my relatives visited me and I prepared Supra in the yard. One of them was speaking loudly and nuns from the monastery called police because of the noise and loud speaking.

Karlo Gorelishvili, a resident of Kedeli: “Here I live with my family. Before I was born my parents lived in this house; they built it but I have not registered it on my name. I provided all necessary documents to the Sighnaghi agency of Public Registry. But I was replied, registration of all kind property was ceased in Kedeli because they could not register anything without the confirmation of the Mother. I inquired the reason and they said the Mother Superior had provided a map of the territory to them and according to it the entire territory belongs to the Monastery and the agency had no right to register it to anybody else. I have not managed to register my house and plot yet.

Short time ago, I had some problems and decided to sell the house. Since I knew that the monastery was interested in the territory I offered to one of the nun to buy our house. She said they could pay only 5 000 GEL but if I refused I could lose everything even the offered money.

Jimsher Kalandrishvili, resident of Kedeli: I live in my house but I could not register my house either. Mother Superior sent people to me several times who declared that surrounding territories belong to the monastery and everybody had to assign their properties to the Nunnery for free. She claimed that the residents of the settlement used to be slaves of the Monastery and we also have to obey them. Otherwise we will have to leave the place. They create unbearable conditions for us in order to compel us to abandon the area. There was a stream near the Monastery which we used for drinking water. The nuns started some activities there and stream disappeared. There is one more stream in the valley and the families, who remained in the area and somehow endure the oppression of the Mother Superior of the Monastery, use this stream for drinking water. Several days ago, I learned that soon the stream is supposed to remove a bit away because the Mother Superior ordered it; that means we will stay without drinking water.
 
Cattle of the Monastery enter our yards and destroy everything. I wanted to build a fence but as soon as I started construction I was ordered to stop it. Nun Tamar told me I had no right to start any kind of construction in the area. If I dared to continue it, they would call police. They try to fright us with everything. Police and all governmental institutions obey them.

Tamaz Gorelishvili, a resident of Kedeli: When I applied to Sighnaghi Agency of Public Registry to legalize my property I was also told to bring confirmation from Mother Teodora to prove that she agrees to register the house on me. I did not apply to the Mother because I knew she allows registration of the property only to those families who have signed purchase agreement on house or a plot with her.

Case on Goderdzi Gordeziani

Doctor Goderdzi Gordeziani has been living in St. Nino Street # 1 in Sighnaghi since 1983.

In 2007, Goderdzi Gordeziani started a small business on the plot which was registered on his name according to the date of Sighnaghi Agency of Public Registry. He set up small wooden huts in his own yard and started to serve dinner for the guests visiting Bodbe. Several days later, Bodbe Nunnery filed suits to Sighnaghi Municipality Board, Ministry of Culture, Monument Protection and Sport, Association for the Protection of the Rights of Land-Owners and other organizations. The suitors requested to investigate the legality of Gordeziani’s ownership on the plot and to stop his business activities because it disturbed the solitude of the Nunnery.

In reply to the suit, Association for the Protection of Land-Owners replied to Sighnaghi Municipality Board: “As a result of our investigation we concluded that Gordeziani has registered the property illegally because the protocol on acceptance was issued on February 1, 1999 when the land reform had already finished. Please, discuss this issue and make decision based on which the Public Registry will cease registration of the property. Besides that, the state property, where nutrition unit is located and enterprise is working, shall return into its initial position.

In reply to the letter of the non-governmental organization Goderdzi Goderziani sent letter to the Municipality Board and explained: “Protocols on acceptance were drawn up later in the district; however, the land was assigned before the reform finished. Article 129, Part I of the Civil Code of Georgia states that: “The period of limitation on contractual claims is three years, and the period with respect to contractual claims regarding immovable things – six years.” I have been holding the contract since 2000 and consequently, the letter of the Association is groundless.”

Based on the imperative request of the law, Sighnaghi Municipality Board could not satisfy the written demands of the Association in 2007.

Discriminative Approach of the Administration

In 2008 Goderdzi Gordeziani applied to Sighnaghi Municipality Board and submitted his project on the construction of café and exposition hall in his own plot; he requested the Municipality Board permission for the construction. The Board did not allow Gordeziani to start the construction. Nodar Kochlamazashvili, Sighnaghi district governor, explained their refusal as follows.

“On December 23, 2008 Sighnaghi Municipality Board received a letter of the Minister of Culture, Monument Protection and Sport which states that Bodbe Nunnery was granted with the status of National Monument based on the President’s Resolution # 665, issued in 2006. In this case, according to the Law of Georgia on Cultural Heritage the monument has its own protection zone and visual protection area which shall be within the radius of 500 meters (Article 36, Part IV).

Since your land of 2 116 sq, meters is located within the space of visual protection you are not allowed to construct exposition hall and café in it. Sighnaghi Municipality board has already sent a letter to the Ministry of Culture, Monument Protection and Sport to issue corresponding conclusion on the fact.

Consequently, we kindly request you not to start any kind of constructions on the territory before the Ministry issues the conclusion. If you do not obey the decision, corresponding administrative actions will be conducted against you. 

According to official information, Bodbe Nunnery does not have permission for the construction of a large café outside the Monastery either. The construction has been going for many years. Locals state that heavy techniques also worked on the construction. It is almost finished and Sighnaghi Municipality Board has not reacted on it yet. “Monastery did not apply to the Municipality Board for the permission at all. District governor is authorized to issue permission or prohibit construction,” said Architect Zura Kakhetelidze, an employee of Sighnaghi municipality board.

It is strange why the Law on Cultural Heritage does not work for the Bodbe Nunnery when the construction of the café for the Monastery is going on 20 meters away from the Nunnery and Gordeziani was not allowed to build an exhibition hall on his own plot 250 meters away from the nunnery and is prohibited to continue his business.

According to the same law, based on which municipality board did not allow Gordeziani to build the hall and Ministry of Culture denied the permission without studying the issue, states: “If the monument is located in the city/town the protection area of 500 meter is reduced two times.” (Article 36, part V).

Nevertheless, several days, when Gordeziani was correcting land in his yard by tractor, officials from Sighnaghi Municipality visited him and demanded to stop the work.

“As soon as nuns saw me working in the yard they called the municipality board. The officials came, even the district governor, policemen and representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office and ordered to stop working. If I had not obeyed them they threatened with using other measures,” said Goderdzi Goderziani.

Nodar Kochlamazashvili, Sighnaghi district governor: “Gordeziani was now allowed to start construction before the Ministry of Culture makes decision on it.”

-Mr. Nodar, why are not you hindering the constructions outside the Monastery which is conducted by the Nunnery itself? Reportedly, they have not applied to you for the permission?

-The permission on the construction of the unit was issued before I occupied the position. I cannot tell you what was going on before me. I am not raiding the activities of previous governors in order to find out whether the permission is issued on this or that constructions. I will find out whether the Monastery had applied to us for the permission.”  >>>(Part II) 

News