Occupation forces illegally arrest two Georgian citizens
The illegal detention of Georgian citizens is a common issue near the occupation line. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The Russian-controlled occupation forces have illegally arrested two Georgian citizens near de facto Tskhinvali, at the village of Tsinagara, the Georgian State Security Service has confirmed.
The agency reports that the international community has already been informed regarding the abduction.
Russia carries full responsibility for illegal detention of Georgian citizens in the occupied regions and along the occupation line. Their illegal actions create security threats on the ground,” said the State Security Service.
The illegal detention of Georgian citizens is a common issue near the occupation line.
Illegally detained Georgian citizens are mostly released after their families pay a fine.
However, there have been several cases of Georgian citizens dying while in detention.
The standard fine is 2,000 Russian rubles ($27 USD).
Russia recognised the Georgian regions of Tskhinvali and Abkhazia as independent states in the wake of the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
Only Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria have taken the same step of recognition so far.
The rest of the international community says that the regions are occupied by Russia and urge the country to withdraw its troops from Georgian territory.
The Russian-controlled occupation forces have illegally arrested one Georgian citizen near de facto Tskhinvali, the Georgian State Security Service has confirmed.
The Georgian State Security Service says that illegal detention of Georgian citizens by the Russian-controlled occupation forces for so-called ‘illegally crossing the border’ is a common issue since Russia-Georgia 2008.
Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs David Zalkaliani has denounced the disrespect for the Georgian national flag in Russian state-owned TV program, expressing his concerns to the Swiss Ambassador to Russia Krystyna Marty Lang, who paid an official visit to Georgia. The program, which aired on Russian state-owned TV channel Russia-24 on November 9, showed the presenters standing on top of the Georgian national flag.
The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has dismissed Russian media reports claiming Belarus has started a procedure to recognise the independence of Georgia’s Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (Tskhinvali), calling them 'disinformation.'
Russian occupation forces have illegally arrested Georgian citizen Mamuka Chkhikvadze near Zemo Nikozi village in Gori municipality earlier today.
Kakhaber Natadze, 44, and Vladimer Kaniashvili, 38, arrested illegally by the Russian occupation forces on December 10 near the village of Tsinagara for ‘illegally crossing the border’, have been denied bail by the so-called Tskhinvali court, RFE/RL's Georgian service reports.
A total of seven Georgian citizens remain illegally imprisoned by the Russian occupation forces as of December 24, Georgian State Security Service (SSS) representative Giorgi Sabedashvili reported.
The 104th meeting of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism took place yesterday in Ergneti, under the co-facilitation of the Ambassador Marek Szczygiel, Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), and Ambassador Viorel Mosanu, newly appointed Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus.