Russian blogger charged with cooperating with terrorist organisation denied entry to Georgia
The information on the refusal of Georgian border control to permit Insa to enter the country’s territory was shared through the Telegram messaging application by Egor Kuroptev, the Director of the Free Russia Foundation non-government organisation, who said Insa had spent five days in the neutral zone at the Larsi border checkpoint. Photo: Georgia's Revenue Service
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Russian blogger Insa, charged with cooperating with a terrorist organisation in her country, has been denied entry to Georgia due to “clearly false and contradictory information” provided by her about the purpose of her intended visit, the Georgian Interior Ministry announced on Thursday.
The state body was responding to media reports on the matter and noted Insa, who ran a blog investigating alleged misappropriation of local charity fund by state officials in Russia but was arrested in December in Russia’s Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, had attempted entry into Georgia on June 12 and again on June 13.
In its statement, the Ministry said the blogger, who was charged with the crime for her 2014 messages with an individual Russian authorities said was an intended recruit for a terrorist organisation, had admitted she had violated rules of house arrest by removing the so-called her electronic monitoring device before attempting to enter the Georgian territory.
The Ministry said her request for crossing the border had not been “in compliance with relevant requirements of border crossing” in the Georgian legislation, noting clauses permitting refusal for crossing the state border if entry was seen to “endanger state security and public order”, or if the individual in question is charged with “international crimes, including terrorism”.
The information on the refusal of Georgian border control to permit Insa to enter the country’s territory was shared through the Telegram messaging application by Egor Kuroptev, the Director of the Free Russia Foundation non-government organisation, who said Insa had spent five days in the neutral zone at the Larsi border checkpoint.
Kuroptev also said Insa had no food and water and noted he and the Public Defender of Georgia were unable to reach her due to police intervention. He also said they had applied to the country's Foreign and Interior ministries to intervene but with “no influence on the situation”.