Seven Georgian citizens remain illegally detained in de facto Tskhinvali, one in occupied Abkhazia – minister

Seven citizens of Georgia remain illegally detained in Georgia’s Russian-occupied, central Tskhinvali region, while the figure stands at one in another, western breakaway region of Abkhazia, State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality, Tea Akhvlediani, said on Friday in parliament. 

She said that the Georgian authorities were taking all steps to ensure the release of the individuals. 

“The human rights and humanitarian situation in the occupied regions remains dire, which is the main direction of our activities together with other agencies. In this regard, we are actively working with international partners in all relevant formats,” Akhvlediani suggested. 

She stated that the major levers to address the incidents in and near the occupied regions were  the EU-led hotline, Geneva International Discussions and the meetings of International Prevention and Response Mechanism. 

Akhvlediani  stated that the ways of further implementation of the depoliticized, human-centered policy of state involvement and reconciliation was discussed, noting that the process of strategic revision of this policy was underway and it was important to discuss it in the parliamentary format.