Doctors plan to hold a demonstration at 12 p.m. on Monday, November 18 in front of their workplaces to protest the illegal detention of their colleague.
Georgian State Minister of Reconciliation and Civil Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili said Vazha Gaprindashvili, a doctor who was recently sentenced to two-month pretrial detention by de facto Tskhinvali authorities, will be released in a few days.
According to our information, Vazha Gaprindashvili will be released in a few days. Now all efforts are aimed at ensuring that he returns to his family as soon as possible – to his wife, Mrs. Tamila, and his daughters, whom I visited yesterday. He will return to his professional career, which he always highly performs. He treated both Ossetian and Abkhaz patients. He has made Hippocrates Oath. I am sure, by the principles of human dignity and civility he will be able to continue this work very soon," Tsikhelashvili said.
A number of officials and organisations, including President Salome Zurabishvili and the United States Embassy to Georgia, have expressed their support to Vazha Gaprindashvili, who was reportedly visiting a patient when he was abducted.
I call on the international community to react with all possible means to the detention of well-known traumatologist Dr. Vazha Gaprindashvili in the occupied Tskhinvali region. Such acts go against all international humanitarian rules and create grounds for additional escalation.
— Salome Zourabichvili (@Zourabichvili_S) November 15, 2019
The Georgian Foreign Ministry announced yesterday they are doing their best to ensure the safe return of Vazha Gaprindashvili.
It also said that the detention of a well-known Georgian doctor and traumatologist points at “alarming human rights situation” in the Russian-occupied Georgian regions.
Doctors plan to hold a demonstration at 12 p.m. on Monday, November 18 in front of their workplaces to protest the illegal detention of their colleague.