Four victims of Babushera tragedy buried with military honor
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Four soldiers who died in a plane crash while on a military mission 21 years ago have been buried with full military honours at the Digomi Brothers’ Cemetery today.
Many Governmental officials including the country’s Prime Minister, Internal Affairs Minister, Defence Minister and Minister of Refugees, attended todays honoring ceremony of brothers Temuri and Zurab Zaldastanishvili and their twin uncles Vasiko and Nukri Tsiklauri.
The four deceased were all part of one family and were identified after remains unearthed at Babushera’s mass grave in Abkhazia were tested. Their identification enabled a Georgian woman who has dressed in black for the past 21 years to finally give her loved ones a proper burial.
Georgia honoured its soldiers who finally returned home 21 years after the tragedy; Photo by MIA's press office
The honouring ceremony was attended by the Government and military officials, including Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili. Photo by PM's press-office
Bela Zaldastanishvili lost her two sons, Zurab (23) and Temuri (25) in the crash as well as her twin brothers Nukri (30) and Vasiko (30).
Prime Minister Garibashvili delivered a speech at the ceremony and noted the significant loss of the family and honoured the men who had died while serving the country’s territorial integrity.
"I bow my head before the memory of these people. I want to especially mention Bela Zaldastanishvili, who carried and still carries a great pain with dignity,” Garibashvili said.
The PM also stressed the current Government’s efforts, particularly following the 2008 war after which Georgia-Abkhazian relations became particularly tense, had enabled the Georgian side to transport the remains of 30 plane crash victims from Abkhazia back to Georgia through direct dialogue.
PM Garibashvili expressed condolences to Bela Zaldastanishvili, mother and sister of the deceased men. Photo by PM's press-office
Garibashvili also thanked all institutions and organisations involved in this process, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, former and current Ministers of Refugees of Georgia and the Samkharauli Expertise Bureau.
Earlier today a civil funeral was held at Tbilisi’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, which was attended by Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili.
The Georgian President addressed the gathered public and honoured the fallen heroes, whose deeds would never be forgotten.
"Today we once again honour those people who have sacrificed their lives for the unity and strength of our country. We all remember the heroism of these people. They have left a big hole in their family and their loss caused great pain,” he said.
"It is good that we can take concrete steps to heal these wounds. I want to thank everyone who contributed to the transportation [of the bodies] and those who participate in healing the wounds of our common tragedy.”
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili at the civil funeral of the four victims. Photo by President Administration
The four men were among 132 people travelling on a plane from Tbilisi to Sokhumi, the capital city of Abkhazia, on September 22, 1993 when it was shot down while attempting to land at Babushera Airport. The aircraft crashed on the runway, killing 108 of the 132 people on board.
See a multimedia story about the victims and survivors of the tragedy here.
The tragic crash came four days before the 13-month war in Abkhazia ended.
The flight was carrying soldiers and doctors who were on a humanitarian mission. Those on board were planning to help civilians in Sokhumi and take the wounded back to Tbilisi.
The families of those killed in the plane crash could not retrieve the bodies of their loved ones because of the unrest in the area. The scale of the damage meant it was impossible to identify the bodies following the crash without DNA testing.
After the plane crash the war continued in Sokhumi but it was urgent to bury the bodies. Subsequently, those who died were hastily buried in a mass grave without being formally identified.
The four heroes have been buried with full military honour today. Photo by President Administration
Exactly 21 years on from the Babushera tragedy, the bodies of all Georgians who died in the crash were finally returned home.
Authorities began to excavate the graves at Babushera Cemetery in May 2014 following lengthy negotiations between Georgia and Abkhazia.
Four bodies unearthed at Babushera’s mass grave in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region have been identified, enabling a Georgian woman who has dressed in black for the past 21 years to finally give her loved ones a proper burial.
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.
Georgian officials from the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia are heading abroad to speed up the process of returning the bodies of the victims of the Abkhazia crisis(1992-1994) back to Georgia.
The bodies of 31 Georgians who died in a plane crash in Abkhazia have returned home, 21 years on from the tragedy.
It's been 21 years since the Babushera tragedy in Abkhazia and the bodies of thirteen Georgians who died in the crash are finally being returned home. A plane carrying more than 120 people from Tbilisi was shot down while landing at Babushera Airport in Sokhumi on September 20, 1993, during the Abkhaz war.
Excavation of Georgian remains found in a mass grave in Abkhazia at Sokhumi’s Babushera Airport in September 1993 has begun, with authorities hoping to identify the remains and return the bodies’ home to Georgia.
Georgian Ministry of Refugees officials and representatives of the de-facto Abkhazian government met today under the auspices of the International Red Cross Commission where they discussed issues relating to the searching and transferring of bodies of those missing since the Georgia-Abkhazian conflict in the early 1990s.
Five bodies unearthed at Babushera’s mass grave in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region have been identified and returned to their families.
Eleven mass graves in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region and nearby territory will soon be opened to find and identify bodies of those missing since the Abkhazian conflict in the early 1990s.
The bodies of 12 Georgians found in mass grave in Abkhazia, at Sokhumi’s Babushera Airport have been identified and returned to their loved ones for an honourable burial.
The bodies of 10 Georgians found in a mass grave in Abkhazia have been identified and returned to their loved ones for an honourable burial. All of the victims were military servants who lost their lives in a war in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region 23 years ago.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has paid tribute to the fallen soldiers whose bodies were lost in the breakaway Abkhazia territory for 23 years before they were returned home for an honourable burial.
The bodies of 12 more Georgians found in a mass grave in Abkhazia, at Sokhumi’s Babushera Airport have been identified and will today finally rest in peace at the Tbilisi Brothers’ Military Cemetery.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has appealed to anyone having information on people who went missing due to the 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia region and 2008
Russia-Georgia war to inform the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
25 Georgian heroes who lost their lives in the Abkhaz war in 1993 who have been recently identified and transported to the capital of Tbilisi were buried today. Georgia’s Prime Minister thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Abkhazian side for their support in finding and identifying the people who died in the war.
The body of Mikheil Jincharadze who died in the fight in the town of Gagra, Abkhazia in 1992 was brought home 25 years after his death thanks to the efforts by the Georgian government and his own relatives living in Abkhazia.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced today that the remains of another 22 people who went missing due to the 1992–93 armed conflict in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region have been identified and will be handed over to their families shortly.
The remains of 22 fighters who went missing due to the 1992–93 armed conflict in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region were buried today at the Digomi Brothers’ Cemetery.
The bodies of 23 people who went missing as a result of military conflicts in Georgia in the 1990s and in 2008 have been identified by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The bodies of 12 people lost as a result of military conflicts in 1990s have been identified through the cooperation of Georgia’s State Ministry for Reconciliation and the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC).
Thirty-six graves are planned to be opened in Georgia’s occupied Abkhazia region, in western Georgia this year to take DNA samples and try to identify the individuals.
De facto Foreign Minister of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region Daur Kove says that Babushera Airport in Sokhumi will open for international flights anyway, despite the resistance of Tbilisi.