63-year-old man dies in Russian-occupied Akhalgori due to lack of medical assistance
Guram Stepanov had cancer and he used to receive medical treatment on the Tbilisi-controlled territory. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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63-year-old Guram Stepanov who lived in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Akhalgori district in central Georgia has died after not receiving permission to travel to Tbilisi-controlled territory, Mtisambebi new agency reports.
Akhalgori, which is mostly inhabited by ethnic Georgians, has been in isolation for 16 months, with all crossing points closed.
According to official information 17 individuals have already died in the district due to the unavailability of quality medical services.
The de facto authorities of Tskhinvali closed the crossing points in September 2019 after Tbilisi opened a police post in the village of Chorchana (on the Tbilisi-controlled territory at the end of August 2019).
Tskhinvali demanded the removal of the post shortly after, saying at the time it ‘posed threats to our security.’
The central Georgian government says that the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali and Abkhazia regions face humanitarian catastrophe.Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Tbilisi refused to do so and the occupying forces opened two new ‘police posts’ in the village of Chorchana, on Tbilisi-administered territory and also closed the so-called checkpoints.
- Residents of the Chorchana village reported earlier in 2019 that they saw trees marked yellow in the Chorchana forest, and said the occupation forces may be interested in the local deposits of talc and marble.
- To prevent incidents and ‘creeping occupation’, Tbilisi opened a police post in the village of Chorchana in August, bordering Tsnelisi village which is now under Russian control.