US concerned by woman’s death in occupied Tskhinvali, urges for reopening of closed ‘checkpoints’

Acting US Ambassador to Georgia Elisabeth Rood says that the US is concerned by the recent death of a woman in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region due to closed crossing points and urged for the reopening of the so-called checkpoints by the occupation forces. 

• Woman with urgent need of aid dies due to closed ‘checkpoint’ with occupied Tskhinvali

Margo Martiashvili, 70, who lived in the Russian-controlled Akhalgori district, suffered a stroke and died in Tskhinvali hospital on October 28 as her relatives were unable to transport her to the Tbilisi-controlled territory via the shortest, so-called Razdakhani crossing point, due to its closure.

• Georgian FM: ‘humanitarian crisis in occupied regions is main challenge’

The de facto government of Tskhinvali closed crossing points to the rest of Georgia starting September 4, promising to reopen them only after Tbilisi removes an ordinary police post from the village of Chorchana, Khashuri municipality, located on the Tbilisi-controlled territory. 

The woman who has died in Tskhinvali is among those tragically dead in the region like David Basharuli, Giga Otkhozoria, Irakli Kvaratskhelia and others,” Rood said. 

She stated that the reopening of the crossing points is important not only from the medical point of view, but also economic and humanitarian.