Judicial bureaucracy provokes riots in Pankisi Gorge

Villagers from the Pankisi Gorge have been opposing the construction of a hydroelectric power plant (HPP) on the Alazani River for a year and a half, and since the summer of 2018, they have been trying to challenge a construction permit in court. The lawsuit has been pending for ten months. On April 21, special forces fighters entered the Pankisi Gorge, the protesters treated that fact as a punitive measure, and as a result, mass riots occurred, local residents explained.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 21, in Georgia, several hundreds of residents of the Pankisi Gorge gathered for a spontaneous rally in the village of Birkiani in the Akhmeta District to prevent the planned construction of the small "Khadori-3" HPP. During the protest action, clashes occurred between protesters and law enforcers.

Four lawsuits were brought to the courts in connection with the plans for the HPP construction near the village of Birkiani. However, the construction was started even before the consideration of the lawsuits. "No trials have been started on any of those lawsuits," the "Monitoring and Enlightenment Centre" reports.

The problem of the HPP construction on the Alazani River cannot be reduced to clashes between the residents of the Pankisi Gorge and the law enforcers, since people tried to defend their rights in court prior to the riots, believes Ucha Nanuashvili, former Georgian Ombudsman. "We are talking about the lawsuit in which the local residents are an official party. The residents of the Pankisi Gorge have a chance to achieve the abolition of the construction," Ucha Nanuashvili told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The conflict between the law enforcers and the protesters could have been avoided, believes journalist Sulkhan Borzikashvili, a resident of the Djokolo village in the Pankisi Gorge.

"On April 21, after the conflict with builders, activists from the village left for Telavi to negotiate with the regional authorities and the investing company. However, instead of negotiators, 30 vehicles with special forces fighters arrived to us. The people thought that was the authorities' answer and responded accordingly," Sulkhan Borzikashvili explained to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 27, 2019 at 02:19 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.