Woman dies in Russian-occupied Akhalgori due to delayed medical aid
Akhalgori which is mostly inhabited by ethnic Georgians has been isolated from the rest of Georgia since September 2019. Photo: RFE/RL.
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Zamira Chochieva, a teacher living in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Akhalgori district, has died of a heart attack due to delayed medical aid, local civic activist Tamar Mearakishvili reported yesterday.
Mearakishvili says that Akhalgori, which has been isolated from the rest of Georgia for one year and five months, faces a ‘severe humanitarian crisis’ and locals are unable to receive vital services, including quality medical assistance.
She said that Chochieva was eventually transported to Tbilisi-controlled territory thanks to the efforts of her family. However, intervention came too late and Chochieva died.
Mearaskishvili has appealed to Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia and local, de facto authorities and asked for the opening of crossing points.
RFE/RL reports that more than 20 individuals have died in Akhalgori due to poor or belated medical assistance since September 2019, when the de-facto government of Tskhinvali closed crossing points with the rest of Georgia.
They said that the ban will be removed when Tbilisi dismantles a police post in the village of Chorchana, located on Tbilisi-administered territory.
The de facto authorities said that the police post ‘creates security threats because it is too close to South Ossetian territory.’
Since then the de facto region has been isolated from the rest of Georgia with locals, both Ossetians and ethnic Georgians, facing major daily problems.
Tamar Gigauri, 60, who received heavy injuries after falling into a well of seven meters deep in Georgia’s Russian-controlled Akhalgori district in early November of 2019 has only today been allowed to leave the district to receive necessary treatment on the Tbilisi-administered territory.
The European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) has welcomed the decision of the de facto authorities of the Russian-occupied Georgian region of Tskhinvali to temporarily reopen a crossing point between its Akhalgori district and the rest of Georgia for pensioners only after an almost five-month closure.
De facto authorities of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region has temporarily opened the crossing point between occupied Akhalgori district and the rest of Georgia for pensioners only after an almost five-month closure, which has created a severe humanitarian situation on the ground. Local civic activist Tamar Mearakishvili reports that the crossing point opened earlier today for pensioners “whose only income is the pension issued by the central government” of Georgia.
Civic activist Tamar Mearakishvili, who lives in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Akhalgori district, says that up to 10 people in the area have died due to delayed medical aid or other reasons related to the illegal closure of crossing points between breakaway Tskhinvali and the rest of Georgia 131 days ago.