Court rules to transfer all pupils from the church boarding school in Ninotsminda

All the pupils of the Saint Nino boarding school for orphans should be distributed among families and family-type shelters, the court has ruled after considering the human rights defenders' request. The UN Children's Fund has offered help to Georgian authorities.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 4, minors were taken out of the orphanage. The NGO "Partnership for Human Rights" filed a lawsuit demanding to take all the pupils from the boarding school. The rights defenders have emphasized that the boarding school is headed by Bishop Spiridon (Abuladze), suspected of rape.

For almost a year, the employees of the Georgian Ombudsperson's Office could not get into the above boarding school that belongs to the Georgian Orthodox Church; the Archbishop of Skhalta did not let social workers there either.

A video with the orphanage pupils was presented at the trial. It follows from the video that the school staff ignored children's needs and violated their rights. The NGO "Partnership for Human Rights" believes that the video speaks of the danger threatening the pupils, the "Mtavari Arkhi" TV Channel reports.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has offered help to authorities in enforcing the judgement by distributing the children among families. The UNICEF supports the reform of the childcare system that is carried out in Georgia. Now, orphans live in foster families in small houses, Maya Kurtsikidze, a communications programme specialist at the UNICEF, told on air of the "Rustavi-2" TV Company.