11:43, 14 June 2021

Relative of pupil of Ninotsminda orphanage detained for threats

An uncle of a witness in the case of child abuse at the boarding school named after Saint Nino in Ninotsminda has been accused of threatening his nephew, the Georgia's General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the court had ruled that all the pupils of the above boarding school should be distributed among families and family-type shelters. Several former pupils have reported that after they gave testimonies to investigators, they began receiving threats and were forced to leave their current educational establishments.

For almost a year, the staff of the Georgian Ombudsperson's Office could not get into the above boarding school belonging to the Georgian Orthodox Church; the Archbishop of Shalta did not let social workers there too. Nino Lomdjariya, the country's Ombudsperson, said that since 2016, three criminal cases on violence and one on rape have been opened in relation to this orphanage.

The police have detained an uncle of a former pupil of the boarding school in Ninotsminda, the "Georgia News" has reported with reference to the GPO. According to investigators, after his nephew testified about ill-treatment in the boarding school, the uncle threatened to kill him.

The "Sputnik-Georgia" adds that now the witness is under state protection.

As of June 12, a total of 22 pupils had left the boarding school; while about 30 others are still there.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 13, 2021 at 09:13 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: CK correspondent