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International community concerned by death of Georgian man in occupied Tskhinvali

The witnesses say the Russian occupants detained the Rogavas at the Enguri River, near Russian occupied region of Georgia - Abkhazia. Photo by Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Agenda.ge, 27 Feb 2018 - 17:12, Tbilisi,Georgia

The international community continues to condemn the death of Georgian citizen Archil Tatunashvili in unclear circumstances in the occupied Tskhinvali region.

The Director for Eastern Europe of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany Andreas Peschke has tweeted that his country shares the EU’s concerns over the death.

Today the Latvian Foreign Ministry also raised concerns over human rights violations in Georgia’s occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali.

The Estonian Foreign Ministry wrote that they were "deeply concerned by the latest developments in the breakaway region of South Ossetia.”

Sanchez Amor, Chair of the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, hoped the case would be "fully investigated”.

Tatunashvili and two other Georgian citizens were detained by occupation forces on February 22 in Akhalgori area, on territory currently controlled by Russians.

Tskhinvali media announced the death of Tatunashvili on February 23, and stated that the latter had an incident with detention facility staff and fell down a flight of stairs.

However, the de facto security service of Tskhinvali claims the man died due to heart failure.

The Tskhinvali leadership refuses to hand over the body as they are waiting for Russian experts to carry out forensic expertise.

Two others detained with Tatunashvili have been released but they cannot leave the occupied territory due to the fact that their identification documents have been confiscated.

The British Embassy to Georgia wrote that they expect the de facto authorities to ensure that there is a full, open and transparent investigation into the death, and to allow the two Georgian citizens detained with Tatunashvili to travel to Tbilisi-Administered Territory without delay.