Georgian President hails national hero of 2008 war, Giorgi Antsukhelidze on 40th birthday

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Sunday paid homage to the memory of Giorgi Antsukhelidze, a 23-year-old servicemember captured in the 2008 Russia-Georgia war before being tortured and killed by Russian forces of the de facto authorities of central Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, on his 40th birthday.

“Giorgi Antsukhelidze and our national heroes are the country's motive power. They revive and stir up the huge national spark accumulated over the centuries. May your memory be eternal”, the President said.

Antsukhelidze was captured by Russian forces and separatist Tskhinvali troops on the second day of hostilities in the central Georgian region, before being beaten to death.

Antsukhelidze was considered missing until November 2008, when his identification was confirmed by genetic examination of the bodies of soldiers transferred to the Georgian side. He was buried at the Mukhatgverdi Fraternal Cemetery near Tbilisi. 

In 2013 he was posthumously awarded the title of National Hero by the Georgian Government for his services.

The Georgian Defence Ministry on Sunday unveiled a memorial of Giorgi Antsukhelidze in the Abano Pass in the country’s northeast highland region of Tusheti, in memory of the 23-year-old Junior Sergeant who had entered the conflict as an assistant gunner in the 41st Battalion of the 4th Infantry Brigade.