Georgian citizen illegally detained by occupation forces released

Georgian citizen Lasha Khetereli, who was illegally detained by de facto authorities of Georgia's Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region for “illegally crossing” the so-called “border” last year, was released on Tuesday, Georgia’s State Security Service said.

The state agency said Khetereli has been freed following state institutions’ “active use” of the hotline mechanism used for incidents along the administrative boundary line separating the occupied region from Georgian-controlled territory. It also noted the European Union Monitoring Mission and the Co-chairs of the Geneva International Discussions had been “directly” involved in the process.

Khetereli, who is a local of central Georgia’s Liakhvi Gorge locality, has the status of an internally displaced person and has been detained for “illegal crossing of the border” by de facto authorities several times.

The Georgian Government has also raised the question of release of other illegally detained citizens using the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism and the Geneva International Discussions, the two platforms used for talks between Georgian agencies and de facto authorities in the occupied regions, the Service added.