Georgian man found dead in Russian-occupied Akhalgori

The Georgian citizen who went missing in the town of Akhalgori in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) six months ago has been found dead today.

The dead body of 19-year-old Davit Basharuli was hanging on a tree when local residents found it near the area between Akhalgori and the village of Ikoti.

The locals as well as Akhalgori Gamgebeli (a local official) Nugzar Tinikashvili assumed Basharuli died long time ago but his body was brought to the place a few days ago.

On June 4, 2014, Basharuli was summoned to Akhalgori police station for an alleged minor crime. He was last seen at the police station. Local people then said they believed he was physically abused there.

Head of the Information-Analytical Department of Georgia’s Interior Ministry, Shalva Enukidze said Basharuli’s body was now transported to the morgue of occupied Tskhinvali.

With the help from the European Union’s Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), the Ministry was negotiating with the de-facto Government of the breakaway region on the transportation of the body.

Enukidze said Georgian officials had been actively working on finding Basharuli since last summer when the man was reported missing. The Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) and Geneva formats were also involved in the process.

No other details are known yet to the Georgian side.

Human kidnapping is a common crime at the administrative border of Georgia and Georgia's breakaway Tskhinvali region.