Opposition breaks into de facto president's administration in occupied Sokhumi
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, January 10
On January 9, 2020, the protesters in Sokhumi broke into the so-called administration building of the de facto president of Abkhazia, Raul Khajimba. The windows on the first floor of the administrative building are smashed. Protesters. Outside the building, demonstrators are shouting "Khajimba, leave!" Demonstrators demand the annulment of the results of the de facto presidential elections in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region and the resignation of the current, de facto President Khajimba.
Meanwhile, the cassation Colleague of Abkhazia's de-facto Supreme Court upheld the motion of Alkhas Kvitsinia's lawyer to avoid Judge Roman Kvarchia. Kvitsinia himself participated in the de-facto presidential elections.
The lawyer believes that the judge will make a biased decision on their lawsuit, as he argues that Roman Kvarchia's term expires and that the extension of his term depends solely on the will of de facto President Khajimba and members of the Judges Qualification Panel. One of the members of the Board is Dmitry Shamba from the executive branch, who represents the interests of the Central Election Commission in this trial.
The rally in Sokhumi is being staged by local opposition parties 'Amtsakhara' and 'United,' which are protesting the actions of de facto President Khajimba and law enforcement agencies.
On January 6, opposition political forces called on supporters to gather in front of the Supreme Court on January 9.
Shortly before the rally, the de facto Supreme Court of Abkhazia started hearing a so-called cassation complaint on the lawsuit of the candidate for the presidential elections, the leader of the opposition party 'Amtsakhari;' Alkhas Kvitsinia, who demanded to annul the decision of "elect a head of state” through the lawsuit.
The de-facto elections in the occupied Abkhazia and were held on September 8 last year. In the second round of the presidential elections, de facto President Raul Khajimba won by 47.38%, Alkhas Kvitsinia received 46.19% of the vote.
On September 9, Kvitsinia claimed that no candidate had received the votes needed to legally elect a president, the results are invalid given that per the ‘constitution’, only a candidate that receives 50 percent of votes + 1 can be considered the victor so, re-election should take place.
The de facto Central Election Commission rejected Alkha Kvitsinia's appeal to annul the results.
During a meeting with supporters on September 11, Raul Khajimba said that despite the opposition's disapproval, the election ended in his victory and the court will confirm it.
