Family of abducted Georgian citizen Mghebrishvili urges gov’t to take more effective steps

Family members of Khvicha Mghebrishvili, who was abducted by occupation forces near the administrative line bordering the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region on July 3, have urged the government of Georgia to take more effective steps to  secure the release of their family member.

• De-facto Tskhinvali says Georgian who illegally crossed so-called border was going to catch bats in Russian-controlled territory

Khvicha Mghebrishvili, 45, a local of central Georgia’s Mejvriskhevi village was arrested by Russian occupation forces and sentenced to three months pre-trial detention by so-called Tskhinvali court.

Family members of Mghebrishvili told the media today that the only request to the Georgian government is to take more effective steps to secure the release of Mghebrishvili.

I hope that our government will do it’s best to release our family member from Russia-occupied Tskhinvali prison. Nobody tells us whether Khvicha is alive or not. We ask the Georgian government to support us as it helped the family members of Georgian doctor Vazha Gaprindashvili, who was also abducted by occupation forces in November of 2019”, family members of Mghebrishvili stated.

The occupation regime does not allow representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to see illegally detained Mghebrishvili in prison in occupied Tskhinvali.