Georgian-Abkhaz officials agree to exhume graves

Sukhumi, the capital city of Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region.
Agenda.ge, 11 Jul 2014 - 15:08, Tbilisi,Georgia

The remains of victims of the Abkhazia crisis (1992-1994) are one step closer to being returned to their families in Georgia.

A meeting between Georgian and representatives of the de-facto Government of beakaway Abkhazia met face-to-face and agreed to excavate cemeteries in Georgia and Abkhazia and return victims of the Abkhaz crisis to their hometowns.

But before this can happen, the remains must undergo DNA testing to identify them.

Yesterday it was agreed the Achadara cemetery in Georgia’s breakaway region Abkhazia will soon be excavated. It is believed 44 Georgians are buried there, said Georgia’s Minister of Internally Displaced Persons, Refugees and Accommodation Davit Darakhvelidze.

Remains from Babushera and Sukhumi Fame Park cemeteries have already been excavated.

Analysis of the 25 bodies exhumed from the Sukhumi Fame Park burial ground will be compared to DNA of the victims’ relatives. From this, the remains can be positively identified, Darakhvelidze said.

He added grave sites in Kodori Gorge and Vaziani in Georgia would also be excavated and if any Abkhazian bodies were identified, these remains would be transferred back home.

Darakhvelidze spoke to journalists after his visit to Turkey where he met representatives of the de-facto Government of breakaway Abkhazia face-to-face and discussed ways of bringing the bodies of the remaining conflict victims’ home.

This was the fifth Georgian-Abkhazian meeting and was organised by the International Red Cross, Darakhvelidze said.

He noted the next meeting with the Abkhazian side would be held at expert level and was scheduled for September.

The first meetings between Georgian officials and representatives from the de-facto Government of Abkhazia started in October 2013 and were deemed successful. In May this year, authorities began to excavate graves at Babushera Cemetery following long-time Georgian-Abkhazian negotiations.

On September 20, 1993, during the Abkhaz war, a plane carrying more than 120 people from Tbilisi was shot down while landing at Babushera Airport in Sokhumi. The event happened a few days before Tbilisi lost the battle for Sukhumi on September 27, 1993. 

The bodies of 31 Georgians who died in a plane crash in Abkhazia have since returned home, 21 years on from the tragedy.