Georgia continues the trial of two former members of the commission on border delimitation with Azerbaijan, who are accused of concealing maps. They are cartographers Iveri Melashvili and Natalya Ilyicheva.
In October 2020, a Georgian state examination found out that these defendants were guided by maps published in the 1970s and 80s, which casts doubt on the ownership of the David Gareja monastic complex.
Melashvili and Ilyicheva are charged with concealing a map from 1937 and 1938 while working for the Georgian-Azerbaijani border delimitation and demarcation commission, which could have deprived Georgia of 3,500 hectares of its territory, including part of the David Gareja monastery. According to the investigation, they committed this crime "on the instruction of superior officials."
The monastery of David Gareja has been carved into a mountain on the Georgian-Azerbaijani border. Both countries have been trying to delimit this area ever since their independence. Georgia's proposal to exchange the entire monastic complex with other territories was rejected by Azerbaijan, which stated that these heights are of strategic importance. Only a small part of the David Gareja monastic complex is contentious.
Georgian prosecutors allege that the aforesaid unfavorable map was used in order to delimit parts of the border with Azerbaijan in 2006 and 2007.
The defendants face 10 to 15 years of imprisonment.
Accused cartographers Melashvili and Ilyicheva were arrested in 2020, but released on bail in 2021.
They plead not guilty.