Georgia’s State Security Service reports third illegal arrest of citizen by Russian-controlled occupation forces in Gali

Georgia’s State Security Service on Wednesday announced a third Georgian citizen had been illegally detained by Russian-controlled occupation forces in the Gali district of the occupied Abkhazia region in the north-west of the country.

The SSS said the information was revealed following the latest communication through the European Union Monitoring Mission’s hotline with the de facto authorities, initiated after the illegal detention of two other Georgian citizens in the village of Otobaia in the district last week.

The agency stressed the de facto authorities had confirmed the third arrest was also linked to allegations of “organising illegal migration", with the illegally detained individuals “sentenced to two months of pretrial detention by the so-called court".
 

The SSS emphasised “all available mechanisms” had been activated in efforts to secure the “immediate release” of the detainees, adding the illegal detentions “not only disrupt the daily lives of the local population but also severely undermine the security environment” in the region.