Press Digest 15.01.2015
Man abducted in Gali
New law to target separatist fighters
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Man abducted in Gali
Five people, including a Russian border guard and a member of Abkhazia’s anti-terrorist group have reportedly been killed in a special operation in the region of Gali. Allegedly, the special operation was initiated after a young man was abducted in the region.
As Abkhazia’s former Security Minister Levan Kiknadze informed Rezonansi, a young man was abducted by three or four of his classmates while hunting in one of the local forests. The abductors later demanded his family to pay a ransom of 20 thousand GEL.
However, when the offenders got drunk, the victim managed to escape, killing one of the abductors and wounding two. Shortly after that, he reported the crime to the police,”- says the Rezonansi newspaper.
In order to apprehend the criminals, law enforcers implemented a special operation in which a
Russian border guard, Andrei Udalcov and a member of Abkhazia’s anti-terrorist Security Center Eduard Nersesian were killed. All the three suspects were also murdered; Jamo Akubardia, who presumably led the criminals, was killed by the victim himself. The second suspect, 30-year-old Levan Khargelia, has also been identified, while the third offender’s name is still unknown,”- says the article.
The culprits reportedly abducted Gela Gergedava, a resident of the village of Chuburkhinji, Gali region, in the vicinity of his own house and later hid in one of the abandoned houses in the village of Repi. On January 12, the Gela managed to escape and reported the crime to the police.
According to Gergedava, he waited for a suitable time and when the abductors fell asleep, he fatally wounded one of them, wounded the other two and ran to the nearest police station.
Abkhazia’s de facto government is now looking into the case. The investigation is in progress,”- concludes the author of the article.
New law to target separatist fighters
According to Georgia’s Criminal Code, from now on, joining illegal military groups as well as conducting military training with them will be considered a criminal act. Amendments to the criminal code are expected to be proposed by MIA. As the Justice Minister specified, the amendments will apply to armed insurgents in Syria and Iraq as well as Ukraine (this implies supporters of pro-Russian separatism),”- reports the Rezonansi newspaper.
According to National Movement member Davit Darchiashvili, this topic of discussion is still obscure and needs further clarification.
“The recently released statements from Georgian higher-ups and especially from our Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani are really worth voicing concerns over. These statements are nothing more than disgraceful. Actually, our authorities don’t even care about our soldiers in Syria. Our Justice Minister is just overwhelmed by destructive hatred towards Saakashvili and his advocates, so she will stop at nothing to harm them.
All these talks about illegal military groups are vague and obscure. Instead of some military detachments, they’d do better to mention world-denounced terrorist organizations. Still, I agree that Georgians must definitely be punished for serving in aggressive military missions against their own country,”- declares Mr. Darchiashvili.
As head of “Georgian Dream” faction Gia Volski claims, nothing is vague about their new initiative. In his words, it envisages that only members of illegal armed groups or those in any way linked to these groups will be punished; there will be no punishment for those who fight alongside our Ukrainian brothers, of course.
By linking this issue with Ukraine, the “Nationals” are just trying to whip up a new scandal,”- concludes Gia Volski.
