Prosecutor's Office of Abkhazia opens case on incident in Khurcha under article "Murder"

In Abkhazia, a criminal case has been initiated on the murder of Gigi Otkhozoriya on the border with Georgia. According to investigators, Otkhozoriya was killed in a fight with an Abkhaz border guard after the ban to cross the border.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that May 19 in the village of Khurcha, which is a part of the Zugdidi District of Georgia, Giga Otkhozoriya, a resident of the Gali District of Abkhazia, was shot dead. He died in hospital in the Georgian territory. The law enforcement bodies of Abkhazia insist on the version of self-defence of the Abkhaz border guard; however, the Georgian party believes that Otkhozoriya was attacked, which is confirmed by the video record of the incident.

According to investigators, a fight broke out of the Abkhaz border guard with Otkhozoriya, who was in a drunken state, in the territory of the checkpoint "Nabakia"; the fight occurred due to the denial of Otkhozoriya's entrance of Abkhazia, because he had no necessary documents.

Then, as has been preliminary established, the fight continued in the Georgian village of Khurcha, where Otkhozoriya was shot dead from a small firearm.

The Observation Mission of the European Union (EU) has started investigating the incident. By its outcomes, the Mission will send its report to the EU member states, the "Georgia-Online" reports.

Earlier, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) blamed Russia for the incident. Moscow has denied the accusation.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.