Georgian PM vows to take ‘concrete steps, with strategic partners’ to secure release of Gakheladze
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has stated that Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze’s detention and conviction by occupation forces is ‘absolutely illegal.’ Photo: government of Georgia press office.
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Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia stated earlier today that the Georgian government, with the country’s strategic partners, will take concrete steps in the coming days to secure the release of illegally detained and convicted Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze by Russian-controlled occupation forces.
I have had constant communication and negotiations with our strategic partners and in the coming days we will take concrete steps to help our citizen,” Gakharia said.
Gakheladze was shot and illegally detained last year near Georgia’s breakaway Tskhinvali region (on Tbilisi-controlled territory) and was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison earlier this week.
Gakheladze was shot, illegally detained by the Russian-controlled de facto government of Tskhinvali on Tbilisi-controlled territory in July 2020. Photo: Zaza Gakheladze's Facebook page.
The EU, US and many other foreign states, as well as PACE Georgia monitors, have condemned the ‘illegal detention and conviction’ and demanded Gakheladze’s ‘immediate release.’
A facto court in Tskhinvali found Gakheladze guilty of ‘illegally crossing the border and the attempted murder of a border guard’ on February 5, 2021.
The central Georgian government says that ‘Russia is responsible for the illegal decision’ and for all the ‘criminal and inhumane’ acts which are taking place along with the occupation of the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali and urged the international community to take ‘genuine steps’ to secure the release of Gakheladze.
The de facto Foreign Ministry of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region has accused Tbilisi and the international community of interfering ‘in its internal issues’ for condemning the recent illegal conviction of Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze by occupation forces.
Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze, who was shot and illegally detained by Russian-controlled occupation forces in the summer of 2020, has been sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison by the de facto Supreme Court of the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region.
The US and UNDP representation to Georgia say that they are ‘concerned and alarmed’ by the shooting and illegal detention of Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze, 33, by the Russian-controlled occupation forces on July 11.
The Georgian man wounded and arrested by occupation forces near the Kvemo Tchala village in central Georgia on Saturday has been reportedly moved from the town of Akhalgori to the occupied Tskhinvali.
The spokesperson of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Oleg Nikolenko stated yesterday that the illegal decision to sentence Zaza Gakheladze to 12 years and six months in the Russian-occupied Georgian region of Tskhinvali ‘grossly violates’ the norms and principles of international law and Russia’s obligations under the 2008 ceasefire agreement.
The central Georgian government has demanded the release of illegally detained and convicted Georgian citizens at the Ergneti Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting earlier today.
US and Italian ambassadors and OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid have visited the village of Tsitsagiaantkari earlier today near the Russian-controlled Tskhinvali region of Georgia, where they attended the opening ceremony of a drinking water reservoir for locals and met the family of Zaza Gakhekadze, a Georgian citizen who has been illegally sentenced to 12 years in prison by de facto Tskhinvali.