Ombudswoman criticises health minister for "qualifying" case of IDP’s death during ongoing investigation
The public defender said she was ready to “act as a mediator” between the government and the residents of the further sanatorium. Photo: Public Defender of Georgia.
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Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has criticised health minister Zurab Azarashvili’s comments on the case of the death of Zurab Chichoshvili, an internally displaced person who jumped out of his apartment in the former Kartli sanatorium building and died on January 15, saying it was "wrong to declare a qualification during the investigation.”
Azarashvili expressed his condolences following the incident yesterday, adding that based on the initial assessment the death was an accident and calling on the public to refrain from linking it to the long-standing problems of IDPs who have had to reside in the dilapidated former sanatorium building until the end of the investigation.
Lomjaria, who visited the sanatorium yesterday, said she had spoken to witnesses and noted that based on their comments of the incident it did "not leave the impression of an accident.”
Public Defender Meets with IDPs Living in Kartli Sanatorium https://t.co/KD6oszZQza
— Ombudsman of Georgia (@Ombudsman_Geo) January 18, 2022
Due to the difficult living conditions in the building, the IDPs residing there have long requested they be given new housing. The public defender said she was ready to “act as a mediator” between the government and the residents of the further sanatorium.
First of all, this obligation must be taken by the state - to buy these flats and hand them over to the IDPs, who have a lot of residential problems and are having a hard time, many of them are elderly,” Lomjaria said.
The health ministry has revealed the IDPs living in the former sanatorium will receive new housing "unconditionally" this year.
More than 18,000 IDP families were provided with new housing between 2004-2012, with another 27,000 benefiting from a similar state initiative over the past ten years.
The Georgian government announced in early August 2021 it planned to provide further 13,000 IDP families with new homes across the country as part of a four-year plan.