Russian soldiers detain Georgian man near occupation line

A Georgian man has been taken captive by Russian border guards near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) between Georgia and Georgia’s breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.

This incident and several other detainments were the main topic of today’s Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting, attended by representatives of Georgian law enforcement agencies.

One of the attendant Shalva Enukidze, head of the Analytical Department of Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said the latest case where Russian forces had detained a Georgian citizen involved a man named Gocha Beruashvili; he was arrested for allegedly crossing the so-called ‘border.’

The 36-year-old was taken by occupation forces, and so was his tractor.

"The de-facto authorities have confirmed the arrest. Currently we are holding negotiations and tomorrow, if not today, [Beruashvili] will be released and his equipment returned,” Enukidze noted.

The detention of Georgian citizens near the ABL is common, especially in spring and summer when local residents follow their grazing cattle or go to the forest to pick "jonjoli” (a variety of capers), mushrooms or wood. It is not always obvious where the occupation line is, as Russian keeps changing the so-called borders, which is informally known as ‘creeping occupation’.

Russian border guards have installed barbed wire fences through several Georgian villages. They will arrest any person who, intentionally or not, attempted to cross this so-called border. When people are detained, the families must pay a ransom to ensure their loved one is removed from the Tskhinvali prison.