De facto Abkhazia refuses to transfer killer “border guard” to Tbilisi

De facto Abkhazia is still refusing to transfer the border guard who brutally killed a Georgian citizen near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) to the Georgian side to face charges.

Today an Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held in Gali at the ABL separating breakaway Abkhazia region from the rest of Georgia.

Following the meeting, Georgia’s State Security Service said the discussion touched on the May 19 murder of Giga Otkhozoria by a so-called "border guard” deployed along the occupation line.

"The position of representatives of the Central Government has unchanged: The Georgian side once again requested from the occupation forces and de facto government to hand over the person accused of intentional murder in order to bring him before the Georgian justice,” said the agency in a statement.

"At this stage, the Abkhazian side refuses to transfer the mentioned person and there is an attempt to politicise the issue,” the agency added.

"Officials of the de facto government are requesting some kind of legal cooperation, which is unacceptable for the Georgian side.”

During the meeting the problems facing ethnic Georgians living in Abkhazia were also discussed, including restrictions on freedom of movement and the right to get an education in their native language.

The Georgian side said there were indications of some kind of "provocative actions” which could endanger stability and security in the area.

Otkhozoria, a 31-year-old Georgian man, was shot six times by a Russian-controlled border guard on May 19 while he was on Georgian territory. He left behind a wife and two children.

At today’s Government meeting, Georgia’s Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees Sozar Subari said Otkhozoria’s family lived in a rented apartment in the western Georgian town of Zugdidi, and to assist the family the state would buy a house for them.