The Minister of the Interior, the Prosecutor General and his deputy have been dismissed in Abkhazia after a large protest took place by the presidential administration.
The reason for the protest was a series of high-profile crimes, killings and kidnappings.
The rally was attended by relatives of those killed and wounded during the most recent incident: the November 22 criminal shootout in the center of Sukhum. Several masked men drove up to the Ritsa Hotel in cars and shot at a group of people with machine guns.
In the shootout, two so-called thieves in law, Astamur Shamba and Alkhas Avidzba, were killed. Three more people were injured to varying degrees of severity. One of them – hotel restaurant waitress, 22-year-old Dominika Akirtava – is in critical condition.
About 500 people who went to the protest demanded the resignation of Minister of the Interior Harry Arshba and General Prosecutor Zurab Achba.
The President of Abkhazia, Raul Khajimba, immediately signed a decree on the resignation of the minister and announced this at a meeting with the leaders of the security forces.
The resignation of the prosecutor general and his deputy Eshsoa Kakaliya by the evening of December 2 was approved by parliament.
“Yes, the president has complied with our requirements. Now we will expect that a person who is able to change the situation will be appointed the Minister of Internal Affairs,” Sergei Shamba, the leader of the United Abkhazia party, told reporters.
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