Residents of South Ossetia ask Gagloev to provide housing for the family of a former military man

More than 150 residents of South Ossetia have signed an appeal to the president of the republic, Alan Gagloev, asking him to provide housing to former serviceman Taimuraz Tuaev, who became disabled after a stroke.

The text of the appeal asking for housing for Tuaev's family has already been sent to the president's public reception office and to parliament, but the collection of signatures continues - the organizers of the campaign want to collect at least 1,000 signatures, the initiator of the collection, Zhanna Kvaginidze, told a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot".

"I learned about his story last year on social networks, I became interested. I began to learn about them, about Taimuraz, his family. Of course, I remember the hysteria of 1990, but I did not know that Taimuraz was accused of murdering a child. I wondered if no one had written petitions or letters to the authorities for so many years. As it turned out, no. Then I decided that I would be the person who would collect signatures," Kvaginidze said.

The resonant incident of 1990, which Kvaginidze referred to as "hysteria", occurred at the height of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict in the village of Pris, in a mixed Georgian-Ossetian family. The tragic incident is described in the appeal to Gagloev.

"A young father accidentally discharged a gun at his 9-month-old son, who was sleeping in a cradle. The child died on the spot. The family decided to present the case as if the baby had become a victim of the bloodthirstiness of the Ossetians, and the role of the villain was assigned to 25-year-old Taimuraz Tuaev, who also lived in the village of Pris. Subsequently, and very soon - on the third day, it was established that the child died as a result of his father's careless handling of a weapon. But before this became known, Taimuraz had to go through, without exaggeration, all the circles of hell in Georgian dungeons,” the text of the appeal says.

Its authors claim that the socio-political background of the tragedy caused a “hysterical campaign” in Georgia, where “a bloody cradle delivered from Pris” was shown to outraged people. Tuayev was under arrest in Georgia for four months, he was brutally beaten. After his release, he developed health problems, and in 2019, Taimuraz suffered a stroke, as a result of which he became a first-group disabled person. Since then, he has not been able to work, and receives only a disability pension of 11 thousand rubles.

Taimuraz’s entire family now lives in a one-room apartment of relatives, his son David Tuayev told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

“My father was entitled to housing based on many criteria. His house in the village of Pris was burned down, like the entire village, in principle, they promised to help him as a victim of the conflict. The promises to restore that house were never fulfilled,” said Taimuraz’s son.

Later, Taimuraz tried to get on the waiting list for housing at the Ministry of Defense, where he worked, but he was excluded from the queue, since his brother’s house had previously been registered in his name. Later, the conditions for getting on the waiting list for housing also changed; since 2010, the city administration has been in charge of distributing housing.

“Now they only put on the waiting list those who were already on the lists. I don’t know why they tell me to collect documents again, what will this give me? They gave me a list of documents, and at the bottom it is clearly written: “The package of documents is accepted only from those registered and with all the necessary certificates,” says David.

According to him, various officials promised to include Taimuraz's family in the lists in circumvention of this rule, but officials often change and their promises disappear along with them. "They have been promising and promising us for more than 15 years, and then nothing. I still have hope, but, to be honest, the rest of my family has already lost hope," said David Tuaev.

The initiators of the signature collection hope that the signatures will attract more attention to the fate of Taimuraz Tuaev. According to Zhanna Kvaginidze, the collection process is not going as fast as they would like: many people are wary of the initiative if they do not know who it is about. Several people are collecting signatures, including Taimuraz Tuaev's son David.

"He defended not only himself, but also the honest name of the entire Ossetian people. After all, back then they said that “wild Ossetians are killing Georgian babies in their cradles,” summed up Zhanna Kvaginidze.

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