A journalist and an activist from the HaraH-Pitsunda were assaulted in Abkhazia, claiming intimidation
Journalist and HaraH-Pitsunda activist assaulted in Abkhazia
Journalist and administrator of the Telegram channel “Abkhazian Portal,” David Gobechia and activist Liya Agrba of the youth movement HaraH-Pitsunda were attacked on the evening of September 15 in Abkhazia.
Both were hospitalized but are now in stable condition. They claim the assault was an attempt to intimidate them.
The incident occurred on the outskirts of Sukhum. Gobechia and Agrba were sitting in a car, eating fast food, when four masked individuals appeared and tried to break into the vehicle. The attackers first used pepper spray to blind them and then began beating them.
One of the assailants recorded the attack on a phone. The attackers also stole Agrba’s bag before fleeing the scene.
The victims were taken to an eye clinic for treatment.
Gobechia reported that the attackers arrived in a silver Toyota Mark X with tinted windows and provided its license plate number.
He claims he had noticed the vehicle following him for several days and had photographed it the previous day.
Gobechia believes the attackers were merely executing orders and filmed the assault to report back to whoever orchestrated it. He suspects that “the authorities may be behind the attack, trying to intimidate us into silence.”
Last week, Liya Agrba filed a defamation complaint with the prosecutor’s office against David Piliya, a member of the Public Chamber, who accused members of the HaraH-Pitsunda movement of organizing protests after allegedly receiving millions of rubles from the West.
Terms, place names, opinions and ideas suggested by the author of the publication are her / his own and do not necessarily coincide with the opinions and ideas of JAMnews or its individual employees. JAMnews reserves the right to remove comments on posts that are deemed offensive, threatening, violent or otherwise ethically unacceptable.
