Stalinists' shooting in Tbilisi: number of victims unknown for 60 years

60 years ago, in the second half of March, Georgia held secret funerals of the people killed in the dispersal of the demonstration at night of March 10 in Tbilisi. According to various estimates, from several dozen to several hundred people fell victim to the incident.

People did not talk openly about the shooting of the demonstration till the 1990s, and then, a memorial plaque was placed at the place of the tragedy. Every year, on March 9, relatives of the victims and eyewitnesses to the tragedy come to the place. In Georgia, no official events are dedicated to the date.

In 2010, about 10 elderly people came to the memorial plaque, the "Echo of the Caucasus" reports. In March 2016, the "Caucasian Knot" found out only several publications posted on the media about the events that occurred in Tbilisi 60 years ago.

Till present, the precise number of the people deceased in Tbilisi at night of March 10, 1956, is unknown. In the 1990s, the KGB destroyed the principal part of the archives in the case.

According to various sources, 100-1000 people were killed, the "Georgia Online" reported on March 9, 2008. Tamaz Bibiluri, the chairman of the association of the people affected by the 1956 tragedy, refers to his organization's data and voiced the number of more than 100 people killed in the incident. The precise number of participants of the mass demonstrations in Tbilisi is also unknown.

According to Igor Obolensky, a journalist and a writer, parents of the people killed during the dispersal of the demonstration were approached by agents of secret services who warned them that the funeral would be held in secret.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.