Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism Meeting Held in Gali
On Tuesday, an Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held in Gali, located in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, near the administrative boundary line (ABL).
This was the 44th meeting of the IPRM, which brought together Georgian, Abkhaz, Russian and European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) representatives and was chaired by the United Nations (UN).
Representatives of the Georgian central government brought up the murder case of Georgian citizen Giga Otkhozoria, who was killed by an Abkhazian border guard on the territory controlled by Georgia, on May 19, 2016.
Georgian representatives demanded the arrest the Abkhaz citizen, Rashid Kanji-Oghli, who killed Otkhozoria and is now wanted by Interpol.
Georgian representatives also raised the issue of a Georgian citizen, Giorgi Lukava, who is being illegally imprisoned within the occupied Abkhazia region for alleged terrorist activities.
During the meeting issues related to the illegal detentions for crossing the occupation line were discussed. The representatives of the Georgian central government underlined that the illegal detentions not only violate the fundamental right of the local residents, but also undermine the security environment on the ground.
At the meeting, Georgian representatives raised problems caused by the closure of the two crossing points. They also discussed all the major incidents that took place within the region recently.
The Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism was created in February 2009 as a result of the Geneva discussions that followed the 2008 conflict in Georgia. The meetings are an opportunity to discuss the identification of potential risks and problems facing the local community, follow up on incidents, and exchange information. The meetings are co-facilitated by the OSCE and the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM).
The Georgian representatives at the IPRM meetings are from the State Security Service and the Reconciliation and Civil Equality Ministry of Georgia.
The next IPRM meeting in Gali will be held on 25th April 2017.
By Thea Morrison