Georgian citizen Albert Kakablishvili has been waiting for five months now for the police to get him his microbus back. Georgian police have appealed to the Armenian prosecutor’s office. In fact, it’s clear as to who the thief is, who helped the bus cross the border and who the current owners are.
The GSG 321 state licensed “Ford-Transit” microbus belonging to Kakablishvili was stolen in the small region of Varketili of Tbilisi on November 10, 2005. Investigators confirmed that it was theft by the traces. After the investigation, police informed that the stolen car had been seen on the streets of Yerevan. The new owner of the microbus is Karen Senokyan from Yerevan and it serves as the No.9 microbus.
The investigation revealed that resident of Varketili Albert Sarkisov was the one who transferred the microbus to Yerevan. He had driven the bus in the self-declared Southern Osia republic where the so-called Ministry of Internal Affairs had provided him with a license. Sarkisov sold the bus for 5,000 dollars in Armenia to someone by the name of Atoyan, while the latter resold it to Senokyan for 8,000 dollars.
Based on the investigation, the Isani-Samgoryan regional court of Tbilisi has decided to confiscate the stolen microbus from Senokyan and return it to Kakablishvili. However, Senokyan refuses to return the stolen microbus.
As Kakablishvili says, he personally went to Yerevan in search of the bus, but no such luck.
“I’ve seen the microbus with my own two eyes. The person driving it told me that he would give it for 8,000 dollars. Then, I appealed to the Yerevan court and presented all the necessary documents. However, I didn’t get a response. Now the police of Armenia and Georgia are exchanging letters regarding my case.”
Despite the fact that Kakablishvili has appealed to the parliament, the chief prosecutor’s office, the Ministry of Justice, the police, etc., things are not looking up. Lawyer David Managadze from the “Ombudsman Informational and Documental Center” NGO is currently defending Kakablishvili. The lawyer confirmed the abovementioned. According to Managadze, in similar cases Armenia must deal with compensation and return the stolen item, but it is necessary to get a court decision.
“It’s theoretically impossible,” says the lawyer.
According to head of Georgia’s Automobile Federation Shalva Obgaidze, the stolen Georgian microbuses are transferred to and sold in Azerbaijan and Armenia. He says that a well-known Armenian judge legalizes that.
“A very well-known judge in Armenia is “legalizing” the sale of those automobiles without even knowing how they made it to the country,” said Shalva Obgaidze.