Georgian woman detained by occupants sentenced to pre-trial detention

37-year-old Georgian citizen Maia Otinashvili who was detained by Russia-controlled forces in the Tbilisi-administered Khurvaleti village near the occupation line on 29 September has been sentenced to two-month pre-trial detention in the occupied Tskhinvali region.

The de facto leadership of Georgia’s eastern breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region claims that Otinashvili was aiding people “illegally cross the border” between Georgia and Tskhinvali and that she accepted payment for the service.

Georgian Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili says that Otinashvili’s illegal detention is alarming and shameful at the same time, as well as the provocation and violation of fundamental human rights.

Otinashvili has three little kids and she was kidnapped from her agricultural land. We are working in the 24-hour regime to achieve her release,” Tsikhelashvili said.

Otinashvili’s mother-in-law Elene Makishvili told the media that the family was waiting for her release “immediately after the trial.”

I have heard from the media that she was sent to prison…For what? She was in our agricultural land when armed people forced her to Tskhinvali,” Makishvili said.

The Georgian State Security Service says that all measures have been taken to achieve the release of the woman from illegal detention in the shortest time and that the European Union Monitoring Mission is involved in the process.