Abkhazia's Foreign Ministry: Historical Truth Cannot Be Consigned to Oblivion
SUKHUM / AQW'A — A former Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia is under investigation for treason. The alleged offence is a statement: speaking on Georgian television, Giorgi Baramidze said that during the war of 1992 to 1993 the Georgian side never recovered its own prisoners, because it had no Abkhaz prisoners to hand over. They had been shot. The Prosecutor General's Office opened the case under the articles on treason and sabotage, at the request of the State Service for Veterans Affairs.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia has issued an official comment on the criminal case opened by Georgia's Prosecutor General's Office against Giorgi Baramidze, the country's former Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister. The investigation, brought under the articles on treason and sabotage at the request of Georgia's State Service for Veterans Affairs, was prompted by Baramidze's remarks about the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict of 1992 to 1993. Speaking on a Georgian television programme, the former official said that the Georgian side had not recovered its own prisoners of war because it was unable to hand over Abkhaz servicemen in return. There were none in Georgian hands, he said. They had been shot.
The Abkhaz Foreign Ministry stressed that the prosecution of Baramidze is plainly politically motivated and is intended as a warning to anyone prepared to speak openly about Georgia's armed aggression and the crimes committed in its course. In the ministry's view, the decision is an attempt to put pressure on that part of Georgian society and of the political elite which, decades later, is showing a readiness to take an objective view of the tragic events of the past.
The ministry noted that for many years the Republic of Abkhazia has consistently maintained that the crimes of 1992 to 1993 must be recognised, fully investigated and assessed in international law.
'Instead of a constructive and responsible reckoning with the events of the past, part of Georgian society goes on denying the crimes that were committed, cynically replacing them with politicised interpretations. Historical truth, however, cannot be consigned entirely to oblivion. Over time, objective assessments of these events find ever wider confirmation, including from that part of Georgian society which is ready to acknowledge the mistakes that were made, among them figures within the Georgian political elite', the comment reads.
Attempts to restrict public discussion of historical facts cannot alter historical memory or the objective assessment of what took place, the ministry believes.
'Such actions merely demonstrate the unwillingness of certain political forces in Georgia to engage in an open and responsible reckoning with the events of 1992 to 1993', the comment states.