6 children want to leave Patriarchate’s boarding school, Ombudswoman suspects they may be victims of violence

Six children living in a boarding school run by the Georgian Patriarchate and which is suspected of inflicting physical and psychological violence on its wards say they would like to leave the institution ‘to live closer to Tbilisi’,  the Agency for Social Care and Assistance for Victims of Trafficking said yesterday.

Ombudswoman Nino Lomjaria and several NGOs express the suspicion that the children in the school may be the victims of psychological and physical violence and they are not able to talk openly about their problems.

• Ombudswoman: Prosecutor’s Office investigating several cases of violence in Patriarchate’s boarding school

On June 2, 2021 Georgian public Defender Nino Lomjaria stated that the country’s Prosecutor’s Office is investigating several cases of violence which occurred in 2016-2020 in the Patriarcate’s Ninotsminda boarding school. 

Lomjaria also said  top clerics did not allow inspectors from the Ombudsman’s office to conduct mandatory monitoring.

Archbishop Spiridon, who administers the boarding school, stated several times that he will not allow the public defender’s monitors into the building ‘because Lomjaria and her staff support anti-Cristian attitudes’.

Lomjaria also said that only one social worker has been allowed into the boarding school after ‘sharp statements’ from her office and the involvement of the UN.

• Civic activists, NGOs to protest barring of inspectors in Ninotsminda boarding school

However, the social worker was unable to conduct any monitoring ‘because it is Public Defender’s job and the social worker has no access to necessary documentation’.

Head of the Partnership for Human Rights organisation Ana Arganashvili told Rustavi 2 yesterday that her organisation is going to defend the rights of children living in the Ninotsminda boarding school.

Arganashvili said that the boarding school has strict discipline rules. If a child behaves badly, he/she will have to walk down on his/her knees and will not get food.

She also said that out of 53 children, eight are with disabilities and special needs, which ‘once again shows that the school needs monitoring as soon as possible’.