Tskhinvali misappropriating Georgian territories
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, July 5
The Georgian State Security Service (SSS) has accused de facto South Ossetia (Tskhinvali) authorities in misappropriation of Georgian lands, located alongside the villages of Bershueti and Sobisi.
Gori Governor Davit Tsertsvadze stated that Russian soldiers resumed fortification efforts along the so-called border of de facto South Ossetia and moved so-called border sign 500 meters into Georgian-controlled territory.
The governor added that due to the erection of the banner, residents of the village of Bershueti, namely the Chilindrishvili and the Khodeli families, have been deprived of their access to several hectares of agricultural land.
“Around 20 hectares of my land have been misappropriated by the occupants, while I own only 31 hectares of agricultural land,” Gia Khodeli, a local resident, stressed.
He says that he has sown barley on around 10 hectares of land, taken by occupants and calls on the Georgian relevant bodies to help him harvest his crops.
So far two incidents have taken place on the mentioned territory for the last two years. First, when two members of the family of the Khodeli were detained by border guards. The second incident happened later in the summer of 2016, when wooden poles were installed in the same place and the family of the Chilindrilishvili was not allowed to harvest the barley.
The SSS also confirmed the fact of borderization and misappropriation of Georgian lands by occupants.
“This represents continuation of the so-called borderization process, which not only restricts the fundamental rights of local inhabitants, but directly damages the security environment,” the SSS statement reads.
The State Security Service says this issue will be discussed at the meeting of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) on July 11 in Ergneti village.
Exactly a year ago, the de facto Tskhinvali representatives moved the banner and misappropriated 6 hectares of agricultural land in village Bershueti.
A year after the incident, the occupants seized 20 more hectares.
The so-called borderization process started after the 2008 Russia-Georgia August war and since then such provocative actions are very frequent from the de-facto authorities of breakaway Tskhinvali and Abkhazia.
