14:52, 5 March 2026

Lawyers found the compensation for children from the Ninotsminda boarding school insufficient.

The Ninotsminda boarding school. Photo: https://newstbilisi.info/180547-phr-v-oon-obyazali-vlasti-gruzii-provesti-monitoring-detskogo-doma-v-ninocminda.html

A Tbilisi court has ordered 11 children at the Ninotsminda boarding school to pay 30,000 lari each in compensation for inhumane treatment. The children's defense team appealed the court's decision, and the Georgian Ministry of Finance also filed an appeal.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on February 23, 2024, it became known that the ECHR had contacted the Georgian authorities regarding the inhumane treatment of children at the Ninotsminda boarding school. The Georgian authorities permitted child abuse at the Ninotsminda boarding school, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child stated in September 2024, and demanded compensation for the victims.

In 2021, the Ninotsminda boarding school for orphans caused a major public outcry when its management refused to allow representatives of the ombudsman to enter. Since 2016, three criminal cases of violence and one of rape have been opened at the school. The court ruled that all 57 children at the school should be placed in families and shelters, after which the Georgian Catholicos-Patriarch replaced the school's director. You can read more about the scandal in the "Caucasian Knot" article "The State Shown the Door: What's Happening in Georgia's Church-Related Orphanages".

The Tbilisi City Court has ordered the state to pay compensation in the amount of 30,000 lari (approximately $11,000) to former residents of a boarding school in the Georgian town of Ninotsminda, who were subjected to years of abuse by staff, according to the non-governmental organization Partnership for Human Rights (PHR), which represented the victims.

According to the organization, the court ordered the Georgian Ministry of Finance to pay the funds to each of the 11 plaintiffs. PHR representatives initially demanded 100,000 lari for each applicant.

Lawyers are appealing the court's decision regarding the amount of compensation. The Ministry of Finance also filed an appeal.

"We believe that full compensation for the damage caused is virtually impossible, as no amount can be equivalent to the violence and abuse. However, compensation must be appropriate and commensurate with the specific circumstances, including the age of the former residents, their particular vulnerability, and the forms and duration of the violence," PHR said in a statement.

"The consideration of the case regarding the amount of compensation lasted over a year, despite PHR filing the lawsuit within months of the 2024 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's decision. During this time, PHR appealed to the court four times, requesting a timely decision," InterPressNews quoted the organization as saying.

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/421344