People of Mamaladze Are Reigning in Tsalka

Lali Davitashvili, Tsalka

Ecological migrants, residing in the village of Imera in Tsalka district, blame the current local government for protecting close people of former regional governor Levan Mamaladze. The residents of Imera informed the Human Rights Center that Kartlos Mdzeluri, former head of security guard of Levan Mamaladze before he fled from Georgia, purchased hundreds of hectares of land in Imera illegally; he paid only 60 GEL for one hectare. Local residents claim single mandate MP of the Tsalka district Misha Tskitishvili assisted Mdzeluri to purchase the land at such a cheap price when he was district governor.

Muslim Georgians are living in Imera; they were resettled from the village of Ghorjomi in Khulo district in Adjara Autonomous Republic in 2003.

Vazha Mikeladze, resident of Imera: “Greek people lived in Imera before us. They went to Greece several years ago. We arrived here after the president of Georgia offered us to settle here. Since then we have been urging local government either to sell or to lease land to us but in vain. We are told there is no vacant land in the district while other people can purchase plots here without problems. We applied to almost every institution for help but nobody helped us. It is impossible to live in the village without plot. Kartlos Mdzeluri, who was head of security guard of Levan Mamaladze, purchased 340 hectares of mowing land in our village in 2007 while the village had only 143 hectares of mowing land. That means they changed the status for the rest of the land. Now we have to pay 60-100 GEL to mow one hectare of land. Otherwise our cows will remain without food in winter. I doubt many people have such business in Georgia. Without any effort he earns from 18 000 to 30 000 GEL a year. The grass grows without any additional effort.”

-How do you know that Mdzeluri purchased the land illegally?

-We were told at the local authority and registration agency of Tsalka district that Mdzeluri had leased the land and then purchased it. I saw the documents myself which prove that Mdzeluri had purchased only 60 hectares of land. When Mamaladze was regional governor, they could have leased Rustavi city too but should they be able to purchase the city if they produce the lease documents?

MP Misha Tskitishvili is involved in this affair too. Mdzeluri bought the land when he was district governor. During Mamaladze’s governance Tskitishvili worked at the Tax Inspection of Tsalka district. But he found his place during current authority too. Initially he occupied the position of district governor and now he is Member of Parliament. Before elections he was urging us to vote for him and promised to return our lands to us but after he became MP, he forgot about people.”

Nodar Mikeladze, resident of Imera: “We started argument about this land when Zurab Melikishvili was governor of Kvemo Kartli region. This controversy almost ended in murder. Later prosecutor’s office took up the case and a prosecutor from Rustavi (regional center) told local officials: If you want to keep your positions and even more, to avoid imprisonment, you must leave those people and land alone. Consequently, everything calmed down. Kartlos Mdzeluri told us he had leased only 60 hectares of land legally and we could buy the rest of the land in the village. When we went to the district administration, they said the land was not for sale yet. In 2007 we heard that Mdzeluri purchased entire land.”

Besides Mdzeluri other people also purchased land in the village. Ramaz Subeliani, currently head of Tsalka district department for state property management and privatization, owns several hectares of land. Joni Sabaidze – head of Tsalka district Security Department, Otar Khvistani – former district governor and others are owners of the land in the district. The villagers are not allowed to use the land which was assigned to them within the project framework by the construction company of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. Spokesperson of the oil company Tamila Chantladze said they had signed the agreement with the community union in 2007 and was put in force immediately. She added that the agreement will be annulled only after the residents of Imera breach the agreement requirements. Despite that, strange people got hold of the land and locals have to pay money to mow grass.

Ramaz Subeliani clarified that he had leased the land before purchasing it and had priority over other purchasers. “Mdzeluri and I both had priorities over other applicants. Is not he citizen of Georgia?” said Subeliani.

Givi Khutsishvili, head of Tsalka district office of the Public Registration Agency: “That land was sold by the Ministry of Economical Development; I had no contact with this affair. We just registered the land. The district administration was in charge of leasing out the land and other consequent procedures.”

MP Misha Tskitishvili, former district governor: “District administration is not selling plots; the Ministry of Economic Development is in charge of similar activities. The Ministry sold the land to leasers. I cannot understand who is arguing about those plots? I well remember Kartlos Mdzeluri had leased the plot for 8-10 years before the land was sold. In 2007 he, as leaser, purchased the plot as ordinary purchaser. Before those people settled in the village, Kartlos Mdzeluri and other land-owners were cultivating the land and paying taxes to the state budget. I cannot understand why we should have seized land from them.”

Kartlos Mdzeluri denies the accusations of the villagers. “I gave 120 hectares of land to those people for free and I know they are grateful for it. I do not make them pay money for mowing grass on that land. As I told you last year I assigned 120 hectares to them. Though I do not know whether they have registered the plots or not. According to my information they could not manage to prepare property documents in time.

-Mr. Kartlos, how could you buy such a large land?

-Do you know what was going on in Tsalka district in 2000? People were fleeing from the district. Everything was abandoned and I leased plots. I worked in the security guard in 1995-96. In 2000 I leased plots and by that time I did not work in the security guard anymore.”

Residents of Imera are urging the President for help. Ecological migrants wonder how and why the close people of former regional governor Levan Mamaladze, who is accused for many grave crimes, are still reigning in the district?