The State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality. Mrs. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili attended the funeral ceremony of soldiers who fell into the battle for territorial integrity of Georgia at Dighomi Brothers Cemetery. The soldiers were burred with military honor.
“I pay my respect to the memory of heroes. This is the day of great sorrow and we stand together in this grief with their families. No matter how many time lapses, this is the pain never reduced. The one and only compassion we can give, is that all of us, including the families of the dead, know about the location of cemeteries. The identification and reburial took place within the auspices of humanitarian process that runs between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides, with the support of International Committee of Red Cross.
We are committed to fulfill of our goal – unification of Georgia, for which the heroes sacrificed their lives – through peace and peaceful means, to prevent such tragedies ever after,” – Mrs. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili declared at the funeral ceremony.
The civil funeral of 17 soldiers, died in the war in Abkhazia, lasted for two days at Holy Trinity Cathedral.
In 2010 a bilateral coordination group has started operating within the auspices of International Committee of Red Cross, which deals with the issue of persons who remain missing after 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. The negotiations resulted into the decision to open graveyards in occupied Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. Before now, 43 bodies were identified at Babushera graveyard.