Families of killed policemen to receive higher compensations
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Tuesday, April 21
Minister of Internal Affairs, Vakhtang Gomelauri, has announced that the families of the police officers killed while fulfilling their duties will receive 100, 000 GEL financial assistance from the state.
The minister also stressed that a draft is being discussed through which the families of policemen killed in the line of duty or in work-related accidents will receive 1,000 GEL monthly.
Gomelauri added that the Interior Ministry will purchase flats for the families of two recently murdered police officers.
The minister also touched upon the Georgia’s Muslim-populated Pankisi Gorge and the problem of the flow of young men to Syria from the ravine.
The minister stated that his ministry is trying to detect the groups in the gorge that are recruiting youngsters to join the radical Muslim group-Islamic State (IS).
“If there are such groups, we will find them out and punish all the individuals involved in this criminal activity,” he said.
“However, the investigation is still underway and I cannot give any clear information about the issue at this time,” stated Gomelauri.
According to locals, about 100 young Georgian men have managed to cross the border into Syria and join the extremists. Eleven Georgians from Muslim-inhabited Pankisi Gorge have already been killed while fighting for IS.
The locals have asked the government to pay close attention to this dangerous tendency.
An organization has already been created in the gorge called Pankisi Mothers to save their Children. The organization will be focused on stopping the flow of the youth to Syria and Iraq.
