De facto Abkhazia refuses to transfer killer “border guard” to Tbilisi
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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.
Minister Paata Zakareishvili told media that Georgia asked the de facto Abkhazian authorities to hand the border guard over to Georgia to be tried for his crime however the de facto side refused this request.
A special meeting is taking place in occupied Abkhazia tomorrow where Georgian officials and de facto Abkhazian leadership will sit down for the first time in four years and discuss conflict issues, including the murder of a Georgian man near the Abkhazian Administrative Boundary Line (ABL).
Tbilisi-Abkhazia agree to restore talks in Gali
The 35th round of Geneva International Discussions – the only international format of meetings addressing Georgia-Russia relations – has ended positively.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has today travelled to western Georgia’s Samegrelo region to personally grieve with the family of a young Georgian man who was killed near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) separating de facto Abkhazia region from the rest of Georgia on May 19.
Georgian law authorities have asked the court to impose pre-trial detention in absentia for the border guard who shot and killed a Georgian man near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) separating de facto Abkhazia region from the rest of Georgia on May 19.
The United States (US) has condemned the brutal murder of a Georgian man near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) separating de facto Abkhazia region from the rest of Georgia.
Georgian authorities have uncovered the identity of the border guard who shot and killed a Georgian man near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) separating de facto Abkhazia region from the rest of Georgia.
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.
A Georgian citizen has been shot six times and killed by Russia's border guards patrolling the area between Georgia and breakaway Abkhazia region.
The Government of Georgia has gifted a new home in west Georgia to the family of a man who was brutally slain near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) separating Georgia from its occupied Abkhazia region.
Hundreds of residents of Gali in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia are opposing the closure of the Administrative Boundary Lines (ABL) connecting Abkhazia with the rest of Georgia.
The United Kingdom (UK) condemns the imminent closure of several crossing points along the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) between occupied Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia.
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.
The person accused of murdering a Georgian citizen last year near the Administrative Boundary Line separating Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia has been declared wanted by Interpol.