Fate of a former Georgian soldier detained in South Ossetia remains unknown

Former Georgian soldier detained in South Ossetia

Georgian citizen, former serviceman Mamuka Chkhikvadze was detained by representatives of Russian forces on the dividing line near the village of Zemo Nikozi in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. He is currently being held in the Tskhinvali prison. The State Security Service of Georgia has not yet been able to report anything about his state of health.

The Red Cross has already joined the case of Mamuka Chkhikvadze. The incident was commented on by the US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan. The ambassador hopes that Russia will fulfill its obligations under the 2008 ceasefire agreement and return troops to the areas where they were located before the August war.

The former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, commented on the incident from prison and called on the international community to take an active part in the process of saving and freeing Mamuka Chkhikvadze.

“Despite the fact that I myself am a prisoner of the occupation regime, I do not forget for a minute about the fate of other prisoners and I think that Mamuka Chkhikvadze is in special danger today.

During my presidency, on all such occasions, we quickly freed prisoners. Unfortunately, I can’t say anything like that about the criminals that are currently controlling the state structures, which causes me tenfold concern about the fate of Mamuka Chkhikvadze”, Saakashvili said.

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Activist David Katsarava wrote on social media that he and the doctor Vazha Gaprindashvili, who also spent several months in South Ossetian prison, visited Chkhikvadze’s house and a power of attorney was signed, according to which a claim on behalf of the family will be sent to the European Court of Human Rights tomorrow.

“According to our information, Mamuka Chkhikvadze was severely beaten. If this information is false, then we ask the government to refute this information with video evidence, we will not trust the oral statement”, Katsarava wrote.