New home for family of man killed at Abkhazia de facto border

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.

Today Georgia’s Minister of Internally Displaced Persons, Accommodation and Refugees Sozar Subari symbolically handed over the keys to a new home to the seven-member family of murdered man Giga Otkhozoria.

Otkhozoria, 31, was shot several times and killed by a Russian-controlled border guard near the ABL on May 19.

Subari and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Governor Levan Sherozia visited the Otkhozoria family this afternoon and handed them an official ownership document of a house located in Zugdidi in Georgia’s west.

The new accommodation was chosen by the Otkhozoria family. Photo by Ministry of  Refugees.  

Until now the Otkhozoria family has lived in a rented apartment in Zugdidi. After Otkhozoria’s death the family was able to choose a new house to live in, which was then purchased by the Government.

The Ministry of IDPs and Refugees said the Government will cover all expenses incurred while the Otkhozoria family moved into their new home.

On May 19 Otkhozoria was shot six times, including one in the face, by an Abkhazian border guard named Rashid Kanji-oglu after a brief altercation at the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) separating Georgia’s western de facto Abkhazia region from the rest of Georgia.

Otkhozoria was shot despite being on Georgian-controlled territory.

Otkhozoria left behind his wife and two children.

Since the incident Georgia has several times demanded the killer be handed over to the Georgian side to face justice but the de facto Abkhazian leadership continued to refuse this appeal.