Tbilisi to resettle another building occupied by refugees

Another building in Tbilisi, compactly populated by refugees from Abkhazia and South Ossetia will be resettled. This was decided by the Ministry on Refugees' Matters and Accommodation of Georgia. Refugees are ready to radical protests, while the Ministry argued that the building is in private ownership.

"Ministry officials came to us and gave ten days to free the building. The deadline is December 24 - this is a New Year present to us from the authorities. Our offered alternative housing is in the village of Potskho, Zugdidi District," Svetlana Chulukhadze, a refugee, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to her story, refugees refuse to "move from city to village, and should the authorities insist, they are ready to commit suicide": they "have nothing to lose." Ms Chulukhadze recalled that earlier refugee Nana Pipiya have committed self-immolation in front of the Ministry.

The Ministry on Refugees' Matters and Accommodation has reported that they had drafted, together with international entities and NGOs, a standard on resettling of internally displaced persons.

"If the building occupied by refugees is in private ownership, then, they are given ten days to abandon it. For some families we allocate houses in the regions; and some receive financial compensation," Yulia Kharashvili, Deputy Head of the Department for International Relations of the above Ministry, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

However, she refused to specify what particular actions the Ministry would apply to the refugees, who will refused to move out.