Remains of 25 people who perished in the Georgian-Abkhaz war identified

The remains of 25 people who had been considered ‘gone without a trace’ during the Abkhaz war have been identified and transferred to Tbilisi. This was announced yesterday at a news briefing by Sozar Subari, the Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories.

Among those whose remains were identified was the Mayor of Sukhumi, Guram Gabiskiria, as well as Mamia Alasania, a colonel in the State Security and the father of Irakli Alasania.

“All 25 of these people are heroes. Among them are fighters and also people who, up until the last minute, defended the integrity of Georgia and its independence,” Subari said at the briefing.

He thanked the International Society of the Red Cross for its assistance and representatives of the Abkhaz side who participated in the searches: “The Abkhaz side is doing all it can so that the process continues in a dynamic and positive way.”

It was also said at the briefing that over the past year 91 people have been found in Abkhazia, of who 25 have been identified.

• In 2010 under the aegis of the Red Cross, a bilateral coordination group was created which deals with questions relating to those who disappeared during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict of 1992-1993. As a result of negotiations, a decision was made to exhume bodies from a mass grave in Babushera and perform autopsies on the bodies.

• From 2010 up until this day, the remains of 325 people who were considered to be ‘lost without a trace’ as a result of the conflict in Abkhazia have been found. The identities of 126 of them (including the 25 mentioned above) have been determined. The process of determining the identity of those remaining continues.

• As a result of the conflict of the 1990s and the war of August 2008, more than 2 400 went missing without a trace.

The armed conflict in Abkhazia began on 14 August 1992 and continued for 13 months and 13 days. It came to an end on 27 September 1993 and resulted in a loss for the Georgian armed forces. According to some sources, the number of victims of the armed conflict totaled more than 13 000 people. More than 300 000 people were forcibly displaced from Abkhazia.