Monday, August 13, 2007, #153 (1420)

Tbilisi City Court hears trial for murder of 14-year-old girl

On August 10, the Tbilisi City Court began deliberations in the case of the murder of 14-year-old Salome Mamatsashvili.

The girl's mother is expected to testify.

19-year-old Davit Tabidze is charged with the murder. He was arrested May 18.

Tabidze pleads not guilty, and his relatives state that he was at home at the time the girl was murdered.

Trousers and a t-shirt with traces of blood were reportedly found at Tabidze's home.

Mamatsashvili was found dead in the doorway of her Tbilisi home with multiple knife wounds.

The next sitting of the court will be on August 13.
(Black Sea Press)

Peacekeepers arrest Ukrainian journalists in South Ossetia

An incident occurred between Russian peacekeepers and Ukrainian journalists in the South Ossetia conflict zone August 11.

Personnel from the Russian peacekeeping battalion arrested Ukrainian journalists who were preparing a report for Ukrainian Inter TV on the August 6 missile incident. The peacekeepers reportedly demanded to confiscate the tape.

The Ukrainian journalists stated they had all the required documents for them to stay in the conflict zone.

"At the outset the peacekeepers talked quite rudely, they asked about our presence here and about the recorded materials. As soon as our guides approached, they changed their tone of speech, checked the documents and then they asked us not to film peacekeepers at the border," Oksana Kundirenko, a reporter with Inter TV, told Georgian journalists when he returned to Tbilisi.

Maxim Cheblin, the Ukrainian team's cameraman, said he was forced to erase some of his footage.

A statement from the Joint Peacekeeping Forces headquarters explained the Ukrainian camera crew had approached a Russian checkpoint before being told to stop filming.
(Black Sea Press)

Russian tourists killed in Abkhazian mine accident

Two Russian tourists died and eight were injured after a mine exploded in the Abkhazian coastal town of Gagra.

Russian media reports that the tourists came to Gagra from Naberejny Chelni.

Reportedly, during a picnic the tourists dug out an object to use as a grill. The metal object turned out to be a handmade shell which exploded when it was heated.

All those involved in the incident were taken to a hospital in Gagra.

A Coast Guard checkpoint was situated on the spot of accident during the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict.

(Prime News)

Georgian wanted by Counterespionage Department detained at airport

Border guards detained a Georgian citizen wanted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs at Tbilisi International Airport during passport control, as he tried to board a Tbilisi-Vienna flight.

Border police said the detainee was handed to the Counterespionage Department of the Interior Ministry.
(Prime News)

South Ossetian de facto officials meet North Ossetians in Vladikavkaz

A joint session of officials from the de facto South Ossetian government and the North Ossetian republic opened in Vladikavkaz on Friday.

The South Ossetian delegation is led by de facto prime minister Yuri Morozov. The North Ossetian side is led by deputy head of the republic Ermak Dzansolov.

A meeting between de facto president of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity and Teimuraz Mamsurov, head of the North Ossetian local parliament, is scheduled for August 11 in Vladikavkaz.
(Prime News)


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