12 kidnapped in 44 days along occupation line
Issues discussed at monthly Ergneti meeting

Kidnappings, illegal fences and signs on the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL), missing persons, crops overtaken by armed militants – these are some of the issues raised by official Tbilisi at the 69th monthly meeting of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) group in Ergneti village today.

• Since the last meeting on July 9, 2016, 12 Georgian citizens have been illegally detained near the ABL dividing breakaway Tskinvali region (South Ossetia) from the rest of Georgia.

All of these people were captured by Russian-controlled border guards, accused of "illegally crossing the state border” and taken to a detention centre in Tskhinvali. Two citizens currently remain unlawfully in prison, says Kakha Kemoklidze, head of the Analytical Department of Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Another sharp issue is the fate of 26-year-old Nikoloz Sagirashvili, who has been missing for three months. His family attend the meeting today in the hope of receiving some information about their loved one from representatives of breakaway Tskinvali region. Georgia has not received information of the man’s location and his detention has not been confirmed either.

The duration of the meeting today was more than five hours. Photo by EUMM in Georgia.

We will raise all problems caused by the unlawful ‘installations’ across the occupation line. The other issue is facts of physical insult of Georgian citizens [by ‘border’ guards],” underlined Kemoklidze while speaking with Georgian media before the meeting.

Recent Sobisi incident on August 23 when armed militants took vital crops away from local farmers was also discussed today.

The European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) is the only international mission monitoring the situation between Georgia and its breakaway Tskhinvali region. Since there are no official relations between Georgia and the occupied region, both sides use a hotline established by the EUMM to report all incidents that take place along the ABL. Afterwards, both sides gather to discuss all reported cases at a monthly Ergneti meeting.