The contractor company of Georgian Manganese has terminated the employment of 31-year-old Jumber Tsutskiridze, a participant in the Chiatura protest, residing in Shukruti village.
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Tsutskiridze has worked as an excavator driver for GMT Technik Service LLC since 2017, accumulating almost 8 years without receiving any warnings or notices. As the sole breadwinner for his family of two young children, he attributes his dismissal to his involvement in the ongoing protests of Shukruti residents.
About 30 families in Shukruti, facing the destruction of their homes due to uncontrolled manganese mining, have maintained a continuous protest near the Korokhnali mine for over a hundred days.
The affected residents demand that Georgian Manganese objectively assess their properties through an Expert Bureau and provide full compensation. Following the start of the protest, operations at the Korokhnali mine have halted. In May, Georgian Manganese filed a lawsuit against the protesters, seeking a court order to ban the protests. Prior to this, the company had also lodged police complaints against the protesters, leading to investigations and summons of several participants.
According to Jumber Tsutskiridze, in March, Davit Jalaghonia, director of GMT Technik Service LLC, allegedly attempted to intimidate protest participants, demanding the removal of a video posted on social media. "They didn't immediately dismiss me because it wasn't directly related to the protest, but that's essentially the reason. During off-duty hours, I stand with the demonstrators to protect the village. At the start of June, Davit Jalaghonia called in dispatchers and requested my signature on a dismissal document, accusing me of leaving work early. However, the dispatchers assured me they had no complaints and refused to sign. I immediately sought to discuss the matter with Jalaghonia, but he refused, stating he had no business with me," Tsutskiridze told Mtis Ambebi. A week later, I received the dismissal notice by mail, signed by Davit Jalaghonia himself."
Tsutskiridze intends to challenge his dismissal in court, with legal assistance from Vladimer Kutateladze of the Civil Activities Center. "The Labor Code explicitly allows dismissal without prior warning only in cases where the offense is so severe that correction would otherwise severely harm the company, or when the offense is socially immoral and serious. In any other circumstance, a warning should have been issued. Dismissal is the most extreme measure. There appears to be potential discrimination and persecution against Tsutskiridze due to his participation in the protest," notes Kutateladze.
The lawyer has already demanded justification for the dismissal and access to Tsutskiridze's personnel records from the company. Davit Jalaghonia declined to respond to inquiries from Mtis Ambebi regarding why Jumber Tsutskiridze was dismissed.
