Georgian civic activist illegally detained in Russian-occupied region released
Tweet 
Share
Georgian civic activist Tamara Mearakishvili who was illegally detained in Akhalgori near the Russian occupied region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), has been released early this morning.
Georgian media reported that Mearakishvili was released after she was asked questions about allegedly slandering a member of the de-facto South Ossetian leader’s party at the Akhalgori police station last evening.
Mearakishvili did not answer questions without her lawyer’s presence.
She was released this morning but she has now been summoned to the Akhalgori "prosecutor’s office” for further questioning, Tbilisi-based Netgazeti said. Currently, she is at the office being questioned.
In parallel to her illegal detention yesterday, her house in Akhalgori was searched by "police officers” from the occupied region. They took her personal computer, phone, documents and other items.
The European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia used its hotline to find out details of her detention and negotiate with de-facto authorities about her release.
Georgia’s Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili said that Mearakishvili’s detention was an attempt to make her move out of Akhagori.
Mearakishvili has been active on social networks and is known for her criticism towards de-facto authorities. She is a freelance reporter, covering illegal developments in Akhalgori and the occupied region. The Public Defender said that the she has been under pressure during the last several years and was even kidnapped to Tskhinvali earlier this July.
Georgian Energy Minister Ilia Eloshvili said today that the Georgian government is doing its best to protect Mearakishvili’s safety and ensure that nothing prevents her from carrying out her activist and journalistic work.
A female civil activist Tamar Mearakishvili has been illegally detained in Akhalgori near the Russian occupied region of Georgia – Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) earlier today.
Russian occupation forces are undergoing a military training in the village of Orchosani in Georgia’s breakaway Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia), says the Georgian State Security Agency.
The de-facto authorities of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) have closed the administrative border separating the breakaway area from the rest of Georgia for two days.
Russian-controlled border guards have illegally detained two Georgian citizens at the occupation line separating the breakaway Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) from the rest of Georgia. The incident took place on October 29 in the village of Akhmaji in the Akhalgori municipality.
Russian-controlled guards patrolling the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) between the occupied Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) and the rest of Georgia have illegally detained a Georgian citizen for the third time for allegedly crossing the so-called "border”.
Two Georgian citizens detained on November 3-5 by Russia-controlled border guards have been released today after they paid fines for "illegal crossing” of border.
Erecting new artificial barricades by the Russian occupation forces in Georgian villages across the occupation line was in focus of today’s meeting between Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and the European Union’s (EU) newly appointed Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Toivo Klaar.
A Georgian citizen illegally detained by de-facto ‘border’ guards near Georgia’s Russian occupied region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) has been released. So-called ‘border guards’ detained Zurab Zhgenti on December 28 for allegedly crossing the ‘border’.
514 people were detained last year, which is 11 percent less compared to 2016. In total, the detainees have paid 827,000 Russian Rubles (around $14,615) as a fine and only afterwards were they released.
A Georgian citizen has been released from illegal detention near the occupation line separating the Russian occupied region of Abkhazia from the rest of Georgia. Paata Rogava and his father Archil are from the conflict-affected village of Rike in Zugdidi municipality, close to the occupation line.
The de facto Prosecutor’s Office of the Russia-controlled occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region of Georgia has launched a case against Georgian civil activist Tamar Mearakishvili in the occupied Akhalgori area.
The Akhalgori municipality governor which is under Russia’s control since the Russia-Georgia 2008 war says that the de facto leadership of breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) has announced certain restrictions for ethnic Georgian farmers.
The Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has nominated Tamar Mearakishvili, a Georgian activist based in the country’s occupied Akhalgori area, for the United Nations Human Rights Prize and Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize for her "outstanding contribution to defending the rights of conflict-affected population”.
The de facto leadership of Georgia’s eastern occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region has released a Georgian citizen Temur Dudashvili, who was illegally detained by the Russia-controlled so-called border guards yesterday.
Georgian civil activist Tamar Mearakishvili, who has faced persecution for her stories concerning Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, has announced she will begin a hunger strike starting from July 2 in order to attract attention and inform the public about the illegalities committed against her by the de facto Tskhinvali leadership.
Georgian civil activist Tamar Mearakishvili, who lives in the occupied Akhalgori district of breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, says that she has been charged for the fourth time by the so-called prosecutor’s office of Tskhinvali, which is “psychological pressure on her to leave the district.”
Amnesty International urges the de facto authorities in Georgia’s breakaway territory of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) to stop “criminal proceedings” against two local journalists, Tamara Mearakishvili and Irina Kelekhsaeva.