Occupants Release Illegally Detained Georgians for Easter
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, April 11
Russia-controlled border guards released two Georgian citizens detained on April 7 for illegal crossing of so-called border the next day, on the Easter holiday, after paying fine.
According to preliminary information, the two were detained in the local church and taken to the Tskhinvali preliminary detention facility.
However, as one of the detainees Eldar Gundishvili said, he was detained while grazing his cattle in his own yard.
Russians and the representatives of Georgia’s occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions frequently, illegally detain Georgian citizens and release them after they pay a fine, which amounts to about $30-40.
The report by Georgia’s State Security Service reads that 126 Georgian citizens were illegally detained by Russia-controlled border guards last year at the Georgia-breakaway Tskhinvali occupation line and 52 others at Abkhazia’s so-called boundary line.
However, de-facto officials of the breakaway Tskhinvali region said 514 people were detained last year, which is 11 percent less compared to 2016.
In total, the detainees have paid 827,000 Russian Rubles (around $14,615) as a fine and only afterwards were released, Tskinvali reported.
Only Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Nauru recognize Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent republics.
