Sakdrisi after the destruction. (Interpressnews.)
TBILISI, DFWatch–Parliament in Georgia again failed to create a commission to study the destruction of an ancient gold mine in December.
Scientists have found more than 5,400 years old human artefacts in the Sakdrisi cave near Bolnisi, but the archaeologically interesting parts were almost entirely destroyed by mining company RMG Gold.
A few months ago, agreement was reached in parliament to create a commission to study what happened and review the process of granting and lifting the site’s cultural heritage status.
But in January, parliament failed to vote over the issue.
This week there was another chance to decide on the creation of a commission, but again it failed. For a vote to be valid, more than half of parliament’s 150 members must be present. This was not the case.
The independent Free Democrats party accuses parliament of violating its own regulations and not giving people answers to the questions raised about Sakdrisi. The party promised to bring up the issue again in parliament.
“Each MP who doesn’t vote for this commission will be perceived by many people as they are those who demolished Sakdrisi,” Nino Goguadze told journalists.
Also the National Movement plans to bring up the Sakdrisi issue.
A few days ago, the Appeals Court upheld a decision by Tbilisi City Court that ruled invalid a decision by the Culture Ministry to lift Sakdrisi’s protected heritage status. The court instructed the ministry to review the issue from the beginning.
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