Kobakhidze to Starving Shukruti Residents: For Now, Negotiations Are the Company's Responsibility

Some residents of Shukruti have been protesting for 185 consecutive days, with five people on hunger strike for the past 13 days. On September 11, they arrived from Chiatura to Tbilisi, hoping to draw the government's attention.

"We have gathered information about these individuals and the organizers of the protest. Each of them has received tens of thousands of GEL in compensation from the company. If anything additional is needed, the negotiators will likely address it. This is the information we have at the moment, and for now, it is the company's responsibility to handle the negotiations," Kobakhidze said today during a briefing at the government administration.

The people of Shukruti are demanding adequate compensation from the Georgian Manganese company due to the destruction of their homes as a result of ore mining. In 2021, following protests in Chiatura and later in Tbilisi, which involved the US Embassy, a 134-day protest, a prolonged hunger strike, and acts of self-harm, an agreement was reached. According to this agreement, compensation for the damages was to be based on assessments by the National Bureau of Forensic Expertise. However, Georgian Manganese has yet to fulfill this agreement.

The company claims to have provided 13 million GEL in compensation to 281 residents of Shukruti, and that the protest organizers have already received full compensation.

However, the people of Shukruti dispute this, stating that the company’s information is false and that the amounts received by some families were merely advances. The final compensation amount was to be determined after a detailed assessment by experts from the Forensic Expertise Bureau, followed by a final settlement.

"More than three years have passed since the agreement, yet Georgian Manganese has not provided us with the expert report, and thus the final settlement has not been made. The company deliberately avoids having the damage assessed by the Forensic Expertise Bureau, because an objective assessment would result in them owing far more than what their internal audit has calculated," said Giorgi Neparidze, one of the protest organizers, in an interview with Mtis Ambebi.

The affected population is now calling for the involvement of the central government to help resolve the issue. On August 24, the people of Shukruti attempted to organize a peaceful protest march in Chorvila, the home village of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chairman of the ruling party Georgian Dream and the informal leader of the country. They hoped to convey their message to Ivanishvili, believing that the company is using its government connections to oppress them and that they are fighting a corrupt system. However, protesters were met by a large number of specially mobilized people and hundreds of police officers at the entrance to Chorvila and were prevented from entering Ivanishvili's village.

In Chiatura, a protest near the Korokhnali mine has been ongoing for six months, during which the mine has remained non-operational. The company has repeatedly tried to resume work using physical force and the assistance of the police but has been unsuccessful. At the company's request, an investigation was launched against the protest participants, and three individuals - Giorgi Neparidze, Roman Megrelishvili, and Malkhaz Labadze - have been criminally charged. All of the protest participants were fired from their jobs.

Additionally, Georgian Manganese’s contractor filed a lawsuit against the Shukruti residents, seeking a ban on protests at the mine, which was granted by the Sachkhere court. Despite this, the protest has continued. In a new lawsuit, the company is now demanding the seizure of the property of all protest participants and is seeking more than 5 million GEL in damages from them.