Protests across Abkhazia after opposition leaders arrested

Protesters have gathered across Abkhazia, blocking bridges and roads, and reportedly ramming the gate of the State Security Service building with a car following the arrests of several opposition leaders. 

On Tuesday, Abkhazian President Aslan Bzhaniya urged residents to ‘remain calm’  and summoned a meeting of the Security Council. 

Telegram channels reported on the sudden detainment of five opposition leaders on Monday evening following an argument they had with MP Almas Akaba. 

The individuals, identified as Omar Smyr, Garry Kokaia, Almaskhan Ardzinba, Ramaz Jopua, and Aslan Gvaramia, are associated with a public movement in opposition to several proposed economic reforms characterised as being pro-Russian. One of the more controversial elements, an investment agreement between Abkhazia and Russia, is expected to be passed by the Abkhazian parliament on 15 November.  It is unclear if amendments proposed by the opposition will be included. 

In response to the arrests, the Telegram channel Respublica reported that an impromptu demonstration broke out in Sukhumi (Sukhum), which included flare-ups of violence. 

Demonstrators demanded to know why the individuals were detained, as no official explanation was provided. Later on Tuesday, some detainees were reportedly released, while others were charged with ‘hooliganism’ in relation to the argument. 

Elsewhere, protesters blocked bridges on key arteries in Abkhazia, only allowing public transport and emergency vehicles to pass. 

Opposition leader Adgur Ardzinba told the Russian state-run news outlet TASS that demonstrators had agreed to temporarily unblock the Kodori bridge, located in eastern Abkhazia, on the condition that the individuals were released. 

‘’They were detained only because they expressed their point of view, and we have a democratic state’, Ardzinba said. 

The Kodori Bridge was blocked again after the authorities allegedly failed to keep their promise to release the detained individuals by 10:00.

Other opposition figures reiterated that the detentions were a form of ‘persecution for political reasons’. 

In turn, the head of the State Security Service, Dmitry Kuchuberiya, characterised the situation as ‘mass riots’. 

Bzhaniya summoned an emergency session of the Security Council in response, and told the media that the blocking of highways was causing ‘significant inconvenience to [Abkhazian] residents’.

Abkhazia’s law enforcement officials ‘have enough forces and means to ensure security and law and order in the country’, he added.

Separately, Prosecutor General Adgur Agrba asked the public to ‘to refrain from further illegal actions aimed at destabilising the situation’ in Abkhazia, 

According to RFE/RL, police and military units have accumulated in key locations, including near Bzhaniya’s residence in Sukhumi. 

Deteriorating relations between Abkhazia and Russia

Over the last few months, relations between Abkhazia and Russia have worsened, in part over Abkhazia’s refusal to enact some pro-Russian reforms. The Abkhazian government said in September Moscow had cut the financial support it sends, which forms a substantial part of the Abkhazian budget, as a form of punishment for not passing the laws. 

One piece of legislation in question regards an investment agreement, according to which the Abkhazian government would exempt registered Russian entities launching investment projects in Abkhazia from property taxes for eight years upon their registration in Abkhazia.

While not fully exempting these companies from value added taxes, they would be reimbursed for all paid value added taxes if, within those eight years, ‘the amount of tax deductions exceeds the total amount of tax calculated for transactions recognised as a taxable object’.

The government would also exempt the company from customs duties for building materials or equipment imported into Abkhazia for the implementation of the project.

The agreement was signed by Economy Minister Kristina Ozgan and her Russian counterpart, Maxim Reshetnikov, on 7 October, the same day that President Aslan Bzhaniya and Prime Minister Alexander Ankvab presented the draft agreement to parliament.

Representatives of the opposition were excluded from the discussion.

At the time, Adgur Ardzinba, the chair of the opposition Abkhazian People’s Movement party, criticised the format in which the parliamentary discussions took place, stressing his concern that parliament would approve it without consulting with actors on the outside.

‘We are witnessing that the executive branch, represented by Aslan Bzhaniya, is putting pressure on the parliament, without hesitation from the Constitution’, Ardzinba said during a rally near the parliament that same day. 

The opposition managed to get a meeting in parliament, and on 21 October, MPs heard what the heads of public organisations thought about the investment agreement. 

In response to the feedback, the MPs prepared 20 amendments for the Russian side. 

The most significant of these were the exclusion of multifunctional centres and other accommodation facilities from the list of facilities that foreign investors were allowed to build, and a change in the complete abolition of value added tax for a period of 8 years,to an indefinite 50% reduction. 

‘We give them the right to skim the cream’

A wide range of businesspeople, public figures, politicians and lawyers have alleged that the agreement on investment activities will have disastrous consequences for Abkhazia, causing tension between the Bzhaniya’s government and civil society.

‘This agreement opens an official competition for the sale of such an important economic resource as land on completely unfavourable terms for us’, said lawyer Said Gezerdaa, according to the Telegram channel Apsny Khabar. 

According to Gezerdaa, not a single foreign entrepreneur who has registered land ownership through an LLC or lease has ever had such exclusive conditions for access to Abkhazia’s land resources.

‘We give them the right to skim the cream — to receive large land areas on exclusive terms with state lending’, he added.

The Telegram channel also cited Alkhas Argun, the CEO of the mobile operator Aquafon, who called the agreement ‘a scam’. 

According to Argun, under the agreement, an investor would be shielded from losses from a failed project, leaving the Abkhazian government with the tab. Therefore, if the investor goes bust, it is not the investor who will suffer, but only Abkhazia.

‘If the investor has problems, for example, with the repayment of a loan, the Russian bank will receive Abkhazian land and everything on it in payment. And I do not rule out at all that this will be done deliberately, precisely for this purpose’, Argun said.

In addition to citing the risks for Abkhazia if the law is passed, members of the opposition have alleged Russia is lobbying for the legislation on behalf of a specific business, the Mantera group, and have cited examples of government pressure within Abkhazia in order to get the legislation approved. 

Previously, in September, five political organisations issued a joint statement accusing Bzhaniya of exerting ‘unprecedented pressure […] bordering on outright blackmail’ on Abkhazian lawmakers to ratify an agreement with Russia on recognising and enforcing court rulings in economic cases. The groups warned that Bzhaniya’s decision to rush the ratification would have repercussions for his bid for re-election in March.

 For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

Read in Azerbaijani on Meydan TV.