Efforts underway to free Georgian citizen from illegal imprisonment in breakaway Tskhinvali

The State Security Service of Georgia is committed to securing the release of Giorgi Giunashvili – a Georgian citizen sentenced to 20 years in prison by an unrecognised court in Georgia's Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia).

The agency issued a statement yesterday saying "the ‘decision’ of the so-called court, as well as the ‘charges’, are fabricated and lack legitimacy”.

"[The] State Security Service of Georgia will actively continue discussions in the scope of the IPRM format as well as GID international meetings”, the agency said.

GID or Geneva International Discussions is a format of meetings between the conflict sides – Georgia and its Russian-occupied regions – facilitated by international organisations. The IPRM or International Prevention and Response Mechanism was created in 2009 as a result of the GID that followed the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict in Georgia.

The meetings are an opportunity to identify and discuss potential risks and follow-up of incidents and issues affecting the communities on a daily basis.

The State Security Service of Georgia said that additionally, it has provided all state agencies in Georgia with details of Giunashvili case in order to inform the international community.

Georgia’s State Minister of Reconciliation and Civil Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili said yesterday that since the day Giunashvili was detained, Tbilisi has been consistently raising this issue at IPRM meetings.

"Of course, we will not start discussing this so-called verdict and the absurd allegations. It’s very obvious that the person was detained illegally”, Tsikhelashvili said.

Tsikhelashvili added that Georgia will intensify its cooperation with its partner to achieve success in freeing Giunashvili.

39-year-old Giunashvili was illegally arrested by Russian occupation forces for allegedly "illegal crossing of the state border” – the administrative boundary line between Tskhinvali region and the rest of Georgia on June 8, 2016.

Giunashvili was held at a pretrial detention center before the handing down of the verdict on February 3.

De-facto leaders of breakaway Tskhinvali region claim Giunashvili was involved in "terrorist activities” and was a member of an illegal armed group. They also claim Giunashvili exploded a hand-grenade in 2007 and opened fire on South Ossetian soldiers in 2008.