A Tbilisi-based human rights group announced the launch of a public campaign on March 14 aimed at repenting, as the group put it, the Georgian side’s mistakes of the early 90s that led to war in Abkhazia.

The Human Rights Information and Documentation Centre (HRIDC) said its campaign,  named “Sorry / Hatamzait” (in Abkhazian) is intended “to bring back trust between the Georgian and Abkhazian people.”

The group stated that Georgian society should say “sorry for each bullet that was shot and for every word that caused the war.”

Ucha Nanuashvili, head of the HRIDC, said public awareness activities about the Abkhaz culture are planned as part of the campaign. He also said that he understands the campaign will be highly controversial in Georgian society.

With over 200 000 internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, the idea of apologizing for the conflict in Abkhazia is not popular among a large segment of Georgian society.

In its public statements Georgia’s top leadership, including President Saakashvili, also discourages these kinds of proposals, calling them a “stance of capitulation.”