TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian parliament asks the international community to react to intentional destruction of historical monuments on the territory of Georgia’s breakaway region Abkhazia.

The Georgian legislative body calls for the international community to demand from de facto Abkhazian government to stop illegal works conducted on monuments that represent important cultural heritage, and call on the Russian Federation to let UNESCO and other international organization experts study the condition of the monuments in Abkhazia. Russia took control over both breakaway republics following the war in 2008.

“The Georgian parliament expresses deep concern about the Russian Federation conductiong illegal works on churches in Bedia, Mokvi and other places in Abkhazia. It affects medieval cultural monuments.”

Such restoration has already caused damage to the Church of St George at Ilori, deleting the church’s Georgian traces, parliament says in its statement. The vandalism is specifically that someone has erased Georgian writing and imagery on the walls.

“There is no doubt that the goal of this vandalism it to fully destroy Georgian cultural heritage in occupied Abkhazia.”