Georgian citizen dies in Tbilisi after illegal imprisonment by occupation forces

Georgian citizen Genadi Bestaev, who was illegally arrested and imprisoned by the occupation forces in control of central Georgia’s Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region before his release due to health conditions, died in a Tbilisi clinic earlier on Wednesday.

Bestaev died at the palliative clinic Redi, following unsuccessful surgery in a Georgian-Dutch hospital that sought to address complications stemming from a stroke he had suffered in a Tskhinvali prison on November 15.

• Georgian man illegally imprisoned by occupation forces in coma after stroke

A deterioration of his health in the prison - controlled by the Russian occupation forces - and the stroke incident prompted the de-facto authorities of the occupied region to hand Bestaev over to the Georgian side the following day.

The surgery at the Georgian-Dutch hospital failed to address the complications, and Bestaev remained in a coma until his death.

Detained a total of five times by the occupation forces, the Georgian citizen lived in the Gori Municipality village of Zardiantkari, near the occupation line dividing the Georgian-controlled territory from the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali.

• So-called Tskhinvali court sentences illegally detained Georgian man to 3 years in prison

Like many residents living along the administrative boundary line - periodically shifted into the Georgian-controlled areas and villages by the occupation forces - Bestaev was illegally detained in November 2019. He was convicted by the de-facto court of the occupied region to three years imprisonment in March 2021 for “illegal crossing of the border and possession of drugs.”

The central Georgian government had been demanding his release since the illegal arrest.