Occupants arrest one man near Khurvaleti village

Russian occupants have arrested Otar Samniashvili near Khurvaleti village for ‘illegally crossing the border’.

The State Security Service is investigating the case.

The EU Monitoring Mission has been informed and the hot line enacted to gather information about the location of the illegally detained individual.

Kidnapping is a common crime in the Russian occupied region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).

De-facto Tskhinvali calls the occupation line between the region and the rest of Georgia "the state border” and treats any cases of line crossing by locals as cases of "illegal border crossings”, even though the line is not well demarcated in some areas.

Generally, detained Georgian citizens are released after their relatives pay a ransom.