9 people kidnapped in 33 days for crossing occupation line
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An Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held today in Ergneti village several kilometers away from the Russian occupied Georgian region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), where security conditions along the occupation line were on the top of agenda.
Nine cases of kidnapping along the occupation line between Georgia and its breakaway Tskhinvali region have been reported since the previous IPRM meeting on March 2.
Safe transportation of the local population living along the occupation line is always among the main topics regularly discussed at the IPRM meetings both in Ergneti and Gali in Abkhazia, another Russian occupied region of Georgia.
It is not always obvious where the occupation line has been demarcated as Russian occupation forces keep changing the so-called borders. This process is informally referred to as "creeping occupation.”
Russian border guards often detain those who intentionally or unintentionally cross the so-called border at locations that do not have barbed-wire fences.
Detainees are then usually released after their families pay a fine. The Georgian State Security Service says that this fine is generally around 2,000 rubles, which is about 88.80 GEL or $35.8 dollars or €34.02.
The illegal detention of Georgian citizen Giorgi Giunashvili back in 2016 was one of the issues discussed at today’s meeting in Ergneti as well.
Last month, an unrecognised court in Georgia's Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region sentenced Giunashvili to 20 years imprisonment.
Demanding Giunashvili’s immediate release from detention, IPRM participant Kakha Kemoklidze, who is the Deputy Head of the Information-Analytical Department under the State Security Service, calls Giunashvili’s sentence "inventory.”
The IPRM was created in February 2009 following the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict to address security concerns and ensure the protection of human rights in the occupied regions.
Yet another Georgian citizen has been illegally detained by Russian-controlled guards near the occupation line separating breakaway Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) from the rest of Georgia.
An Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held today in Gali in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, where security conditions along the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) were on the top of the agenda.
An Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held yesterday in Gali in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia, where the security conditions along the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) were on the top of the agenda.
Issues discussed at monthly Ergneti meeting
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.
European Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) Chair Anna Elzbieta Fotyga released a statement today on latest developments in Russian occupied regions of Georgia – Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).
A total of 327 Georgian citizens have been illegally detained by Russian-controlled guards near the two Russian occupation lines in Georgia in 2016, says the Georgian State Security Service in its annual report.
Three people kidnapped in Georgia’s eastern municipality of Gori located near Russian occupied Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) have been released from illegal detention.
A Georgian citizen was captured by Russian troops while herding near his native village in the latest of the series of kidnappings near the occupied breakaway region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) earlier today.
A Georgian citizen has been captured by Russian troops in the village of Khurcha near Georgia’s occupied breakaway region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), officials say.
An Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting is now underway in Ergneti village several kilometers away from the Russian occupied Georgian region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia),
Four Georgian citizen have been captured by Russian troops near Georgia’s occupied breakaway region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), officials say.
Georgian citizens kidnapped by troops occupying the country’s breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region have been released earlier today after paying fees to their captors.
Russian-controlled "border guards” have arrested a German tourist who accidentally crossed the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) that separates the occupied Abkhazia region from the rest of Georgia.
Two men have been detained by so-called border guards near the Russian occupied region of Georgia, Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) today.
Two men have been detained by so-called border guards near the occupation line separating breakaway Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) from the rest of Georgia.
A Georgian citizen sentenced to 20 years in prison for alleged crimes by an unrecognised court in Georgia's Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) has been released today.
Georgia’s State Security Service (SSS) says that after today’s International Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting in Gali in occupied Abkhazia, some illegally detained people may leave prison.
A Georgian citizen has been detained near the occupation line separating the Russian occupied region of Georgia - Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) from the rest of Georgia. The house and plot of land of detained Lali Khachirashvili, 55, is located close to the village of Khurvaleti along the occupation line.
A Turkish man has been kidnapped in the Russian occupied region of Georgia – Abhazia. Defacto local authorities said strangers kidnapped Captain Selim Kaya in one of the local ports in the town of Ochamchire.