Time in Tbilisi: March 29, 2024 13:40
Inhabitants of the Akhalgori district in eastern Georgia, which is now occupied by Russia, will have to get special passes in order to be able to visit the rest of Georgia.
The de facto administration of the occupied region has already launched the application process for locals to decide whether or not to issue the cards.
Civic activist Tamara Mearakishvili living in Akhalgori says that the step aims to further hamper and complicate the free movement of locals.
Until now the so-called passport of the de facto republic was sufficient to leave the area.
The only “checkpoint” opened by the de facto authorities of Tskhinvali at the so-called border with Georgia is located in Akhalgori, with about 400 crossings on a daily basis, the European Union Monitoring Mission told Agenda.ge last month.
In 2002, before the Russia-Georgia 2008 war 7,703 people lived in Akhalgori, 85 per cent of them ethnic Georgians.
There are no official figures about the local population as of today.
Unofficially the figure stands at 1,500-2,000 individuals as others were forced to leave the district during the Russia-Georgia war and now live in the Tserovani settlement, near the town of Mtskheta.
State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia Ketevan Tsikhelashvil ihas criticised the de-facto leadership of Georgia’s occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) for their decision to close the so-called border with the rest of Georgia to avoid the spread of H1N1 flu.
The so-called border between the Georgian occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region and the rest of Georgia has reopened after about a two-month closure, the European Union Monitoring Mission head to Georgia Erik Hoeg has confirmed.
Occupying forces have decided to temporarily open the so-called checkpoint in the Akhalgori area, currently occupied by Russia, to allow for up to 200 residents of the territory to leave the district.The closure created serious problems for students, who needed to leave the territory and those who generally visit doctors in the other Georgian regions.
Georgian civil activist Tamar Mearakishvili, who lives in the occupied Akhalgori district of breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, says that she has been charged for the fourth time by the so-called prosecutor’s office of Tskhinvali, which is “psychological pressure on her to leave the district.”
The de facto leadership of Georgia’s eastern occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region says that ‘illegal border crossings’ between Georgia and the region have increased more than two times in the first half of 2019 compared to the same period of the last year.
Georgian Reconciliation Minister Ketevan Tsikhelashvili has presented a report on peace initiative ‘Step to Better Future’ of the Georgian government when meeting with delegates of the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CIVCOM) and the EU monitoring mission June 26 in Tbilisi. The presented report aimed to show the Georgian government’s position regarding the conflict resolution in Russia-occupied regions of Georgia.
60-year-old woman Tamar Gigauri fell into a well of seven meters deep in Georgia’s Russian- occupied Akhalgori district yesterday, but the Tskhinvali occupation regime is not allowing her family to transfer the woman to a Tbilisi hospital. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, Georgian Minister of Reconciliation and Civil Equality, urged all decision-making bodies to guide by humanitarian principles and not to endanger the health of the injured woman from Akhalgori region.
The Democracy Research Institute NGO, chaired by former Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili, has reported the death of 49-year-old Georgian citizen B.K. in Akhalgori [under Russian control] hospital due to closed crossing points with the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region.
Tbilisi and the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) have strongly denied reports by the de facto government of Georgia's Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region regarding shooting at the occupation line. De facto security committee of Tskhinvali has stated earlier today that an “armed conflict” took place between the personnel of the Georgian Interior Ministry and the residents of the Koda village [Khashuri municipality, under Tbilisi control] on November 5.
De facto Foreign Minister of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region Dmitry Medoev has been refused entry to Austria to participate in a conference there between November 7 and 10, the de facto Foreign Ministry of Tskhinvali has reported. De facto government of Tskhinvali is sure that Tbilisi stands behind the refusal
EU Spokesperson Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Maja Kocijancic says that the rising tension along the occupation line with Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region “is completely unacceptable.” She stated that the EU calls on all actors “to show maximum restraint and refrain from any steps or statements that could escalate the situation”.
Famous Georgian doctor and traumatologist Vazha Gaprindashvili, who was illegally detained by Russian-controlled occupation forces on Saturday, has been charged with “deliberately crossing the border” by de facto Tskhinvali, while three other Georgian citizens illegally detained between November 9 and 11 have been released.
Famous Georgian doctor and traumatologist Vazha Gaprindashvili and three others have been illegally detained by Russian-controlled occupation forces, the Georgian State Security Service has confirmed.
The Democracy Research Institute (DRI) reports that the de-facto authorities of South Ossetia have launched a so-called ‘Family Reunification Programme’, which allows ethnic Georgians in the heavily-Georgian district of Akhalgori to relocate to areas controlled by Tbilisi where their family members live.
Georgian believers do not have the opportunity to exercise their faith and cultural rights in the language of their choice, from their church clergymen, in traditional cult buildings, the Democracy Research Institute (DRI) says.