Remains of 13 individuals who went missing during Abkhaz war laid to rest in Georgia

Remains of 13 individuals who went missing during Abkhaz-Georgian war in 1992-1993 were laid to rest today in Tbilisi. Bodies of six servicemen and seven civilians were identified and returned to Georgia with the joint efforts of Georgia’s State Ministry for Reconciliation and the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC).

It was reported earlier that upon the requests of the families of the deceased, they will be buried in several different places, including ancestral cemeteries. The remains of the four servicemen will be buried with military honours at the fraternal cemetery in the Digomi district of Tbilisi. In its official statement, Georgia’s State Ministry for Reconciliation emphasized that as a result of Georgian- Abkhaz war, 2,300 people went missing in Georgia, and determining their fate and whereabouts is a part of the state’s policy.

In a recent post on her official Twitter page, head of the International Red Cross Committee Severine Chappaz commented on the memorial service that was held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral (Sameba) on April 23 and 24:

“A very solemn and moving ceremony today in Sameba church to honour the memory of the recently identified people who went missing during the 1992-93 conflict in Abkhazia organized by the Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civil Equality”.

The service was attended by the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili and his cabinet, as well as the State Minister for Reintegration Tea Akhvlediani, who noted that as of today, with the joint efforts of Georgia’s State Ministry for Reconciliation and the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC), remains of 206 individuals out of the total 2,300 have been identified.

In 2019,the Georgian government created a special commission charged with finding the burial sites of and identifying the persons who went missing in Georgia during the 1990s and 2008 armed conflicts.