The project titled “Identification of the Victims of the 1937-1938 Soviet Repressions in the Adjara Region: The Georgian Recovery, Documentation and Identification Project” has been announced as a winner of the State Grant Competition for Fundamental Research of the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia.

The aim of the project is to identify the victims of the 1937-1938 Soviet repressions in the Adjara region applying modern scientific methods and to ensure their dignified burial.

The project is conducted at the Forensic Anthropology Laboratory based at the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Tbilisi State Medical University, with the participation of the Georgian Association of Forensic Anthropology (GAFA).

PI of the project is Professor Nicholas Herrmann of the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University. The project coordinator is Professor Rusudan Beriashvili, the Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Tbilisi State Medical University.

The project’s young scientists team includes: Dr. Meri Gonashvili, lecturer at the Department of Forensic Medicine at Tbilisi State Medical University and President of the Georgian Association of Forensic Anthropology (GAFA); Dr. Tea Takniashvili, co-founder of the Georgian Association of Forensic Anthropology (GAFA); and Dr. Buba Chachkhiani, co-founder of the Georgian Association of Forensic Anthropology (GAFA).