Georgian Vice-Colonel Asks Ukraine for Political Asylum

TBILISI -  Vice-Colonel Giorgi Tsertsvadze, who was detained in Kyiv on January 15th due to an Interpol Red Notice requested by Russia. He was freed from pre-trial detention on January 27th, seeks political asylum from the Ukrainian Government.

Tsertsvadze stated he doesn't feel safe in Georgia.

"The fact that I was not warned at the airport in Georgia that Interpol had launched a search for me, and they let me go to Ukraine, which might have handed me over to Russia, means that I cannot feel safe in Georgia,” the soldier told Rustavi 2 TV.

Moreover, Vice-Colonel says that there is a risk of exerting psychological pressure on his son, and such occurences have already taken place.

“When my son was walking with his classmate in the street, he was told that his father went to Ukraine for money, and that I am a hired killer," Tertsvadze stressed.

Tsertsvadze, 47, was an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs until 2012. A year later, he left the country for Ukraine. According to Georgian media, he participated in conflicts against Russia in the 1990s in Abkhazia and in the 2008 Georgia-Russia war. He later took place in fighting in Ukraine’s Donbass region.

He was put on Interpol’s international wanted list on December 23, 2016 at Russia’s request, and was detained by Ukrainian law enforecement immediately after crossing the border into Ukraine in January.

Russia accused Tsertsvadze of a murder in Sochi in 2003 and of illegal arms possession and demands his extradition.

Although Tsertsvadze was released from pre-trial detention due to Ukraine’s Prosecutor’s Office, his extradition procedures are ongoing. He cannot leave Ukraine until the process is over.

By Thea Morrison