Abkhaz Court Orders Border Guard Placed Under House Arrest

SUKHUMI, Abkhazia – A military court in Georgia’s breakaway region Abkhazia has ordered Rashid Kanjiogli to be placed under house arrest for a border incident in May that saw the accused shoot and kill a Georgian citizen.

According to Abkhazia's military prosecutor, Adgur Agrba, the court denied the prosecution's motion to release Kanjiogli on parole.

Kanjiogli is accused of killing 31-year-old Georgian citizen Giga Otkhozoria at the Khurcha-Nabakevi border crossing on May 19 after Otkhozoria attempted to cross into Abkhazia to attend a relative’s funeral.

CCTV footage from the Georgian checkpoint showed Kanjiogli and three other Abkhaz border guards pursuing Otkhozoria into Georgian-controlled territory before shooting him six times, including a headshot. He later died of his wounds in a nearby hospital, leaving behind a wife and two children.

Georgian authorities strongly condemned the killing and appealed on several occasions to Russia and the separatist Abkhaz government to arrest and prosecute Kanjiogli.

The appeals were initially rejected by both Moscow and Sukhumi, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later accusing Georgia of using the incident as a political ploy to gain international sympathy ahead of key peace talks in Geneva earlier this month.

The Russians and Abkhaz initially failed to respond to Georgia’s demands that they arrest Kanjiogli, but later changed tack after Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili hinted that a lack of follow-up on the case could complicate reconciliation efforts between the two sides.

The pro-separatist Apsnypress news organization reported earlier in the week that Kanjiogli had been arrested by Abkhaz authorities and charged with premeditated murder and sacked from his position in Abkhazia’s State Security Service.

Speaking about the court’s order to place Kanjiogli under house arrest, Georgian Internal Affairs Minister Giorgi Mgebrishvili said the move was a positive step and indication from the Russians and Abkhaz that they intend to pursue a case against Kanjiogli.

The deadly border incident involving Kanjiogli is the latest in a series of violent episodes that date back to the 1990s. in the immediate aftermath of a brutal separatist war waged by a combined Russian-Abkhaz force against Georgia’s federal authorities.

Immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian-backed rebels in Abkhazia fought a brutal separatist war against Georgia’s federal authorities. The victorious separatists broke away from Georgia's control and systematically destroyed Abkhazia's historic multi-cultural population after they ethnically cleansed 250,000 Georgians from the region.

Russia recognized Abkhazia's indepedence in 2008.

By Nicholas Waller

Photo: georgianjournal.ge