04 August 2009, 21:00
Georgia: Russian militaries detain 20 Georgians in Abkhazia
As reported by the Georgian TV Company "Imedi", Russian militaries have detained 20 Georgians in the village of Otobaya, located on the Georgian-Abkhazian border.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 26 Georgian TV Companies announced that Russian militaries had completely blocked the perimeter of the Inguri River on the border of Abkhazia and Georgia. Several dozens of local residents could not get to the Gali District. According to the TV channel, Russian soldiers also refused to let a pregnant woman across the river; she had to give birth to her child at home.
According to the TV Company, today militaries put down the Georgians who went in a bus to Zugdidi in western Georgia aiming to sell there their agricultural products. The driver was beaten and delivered to the militia of the city of Gali.
The "Gazeta.Ru" reports that now the detainees are kept in the building of a local kindergarten.
Official Tbilisi has qualified the incident in Otobaya as another provocation and again emphasized the need to deploy EU observers in Abkhazia, who are now monitoring only the territory of Georgia, up to its administrative borders with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
According to Giorgiy Baramiya, chairman of the government of Abkhazia in exile, in the last five days this is already the fourth case of detention of Georgians who wanted to cross the Georgian-Abkhazian administrative border. In such cases, as he has reported, Georgians are at least deprived of their documents and abused. However, as a rule, an attempt to cross the border ends with detaining them.
The previous detention was registered on July 22. Then, according to the Georgian party, the frontier guards detained in Abkhazia 27 persons who tried to illegally cross the Georgian-Abkhazian border and to transport contraband foodstuffs across the territory of Abkhazia. Among those detained on July 23 there were 7 citizens of Georgia; it was reported that they also made their way to Zugdidi.
