Two years from Otkhozoria’s murder: Occupied Abkhazia refuses to punish a killer
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The Russia-controlled Abkhazia region leadership continues to refuse to punish so-called border-guard Rashid Kanjiogli, who brutally killed Georgian citizen Giga Otkhozoria with six gunshots on Tbilisi-controlled territory two years ago.
We strongly demanded the punishment of Kanjiogli during the 56th meeting of the Gali Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting today. However, the answer of the breakaway region was absolutely unclear,” a representative of Georgia’s State Security Service Irakli Antadze told the media.
He stated that Georgia also strongly demanded the release of Georgian citizens who have been detained for so-called illegally crossing the border between Georgia and the breakaway territory, as well as free movement for locals.
The next IPRM meeting in Gali is scheduled on June 27.
Zugdidi City Court had sentenced Rashid Kanjiogli with 12-year imprisonment on December 26, 2016. The man still walks free in Abkhazia.
Otkhozoria was trying to transport food into the breakaway region for a funeral ceremony for his late aunt on May 19, 2016. Locals said the border guards demanded Otkhozoria pay a fine in exchange for transporting the goods, which caused a dispute. They said Otkhozoria ran away from the border guards but was shot as he retreated.
Otkhozoria was on Georgian-controlled territory at around 2:30 p.m when he was gunned down.
Witnesses say that Kanjioghli then hid in occupied Abkhazia after shooting Otkhozoria.
Otkhozoria left behind a wife and two children.
The individual accused of murdering Giga Otkhozoria last year near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) separating Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia has been given two additional years of detention, which now makes for 14-years of imprisonment in total.
UPDATED: 5.10pm
The Military Court operating in Georgia’s de facto Abkhazia region has imposed a sentence of home detention on the border guard who shot and killed 31-year-old Georgian man Giga Otkhozoria on May 19.
Russia has denied any involvement in the brutal murder of a Georgian man near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) separating de facto Abkhazia region from the rest of Georgia.
Georgia’s two highest officials have spoken out about the killing of a Georgian man near the de facto Abkhazia; with one saying his death was "merciless” and the other saying it was unacceptable barbed wire fences were installed on Georgian territory.
The Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze stated today that 33 individuals have been put on the Otkhozoria-Tatunashvili list, which includes people who have violated the rights of Georgian citizens in the country’s occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions.Bakhtadze says that the number is expected to rise in the future.
A de facto lawmaker of the Georgian occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region Petre Gasiev says that the de facto legislative body of the breakaway area is drafting a list which will include Georgian, American , Ukrainian and other nationals who have violated the rights of Ossetians since 1992.
President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has awarded the family of Giga Otkhozoria with the Medal for Civil Commitment today in Zugdidi, where she attended a Presidential Christmas Tree event with the children of the late Otkhozoria.
Occupying forces have detained Georgian citizen Gocha Pidiuri near the occupation line with the occupied Tskhinvali region for “illegally crossing the border” yesterday. The man was abducted from the village of Mejvriskhevi in Gori municipality.
Three years have passed since the murder of Georgian citizen Giga Otkgozria by occupying forces in the village of Khurcha, near Georgia’s western, Russian-occupied Abkhazia region.