Georgian President Reacts to Death of Georgian in South Ossetia
Tbilisi has reacted to news of the death of a Georgian man, Archil Tatunashvili, on February 23, who had been detained in occupied South Ossetia.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry (MFA) firstly gave its condolences to Tatunashvili’s family and condemned “criminal actions of the occupation regime” that led to his death. The family of Archil Tatunashvili told reporters that he went to his home in Akhalgori on February 22, but they “lost contact” with him shortly after. They added that he crossed the occupied occupation line from time to time.
The MFA added that it has information about two other Georgian citizens, Levan Kutashvili and Ioseb Pavliashvili, who are currently detained by the so-called Tskhinvali security force.
The MFA directly blamed the Russian Federation for the death of Tatuashvili, describing them as “the power exercising control on the ground.” They added that these actions “make clear the urgent necessity to create international mechanisms for human rights and security on the ground.”
The MFA called on the Geneva International Discussions (GID) to “react in a timely manner to immediately establish the circumstances of Archil Tatuashvili’s death, for the detained individuals to be immediately freed, and for this gruesome fact to receive an adequate reaction.”
Georgian President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, spoke about Archil Tatunashvili’s death during his meeting with Danish Foreign Minister, Anders Samuelsen, saying that he “was a Georgian soldier who served global peace and security in international missions,” and was “kidnapped and killed” in the occupied region. He described the incident as “a totally disgusting murder,” which “added a great pain to the tragedy of our country’s occupation.”
The so-called Tskhinvali Security Service gave their reason for his death, saying the man resisted being moved to a detention cell and a result, “sustained injuries, was knocked down and rolled down the stairs,” after which he was taken to hospital, where he died after two hours. They also claim that according to the preliminary results of the autopsy of Tatunashvili’s body, the cause of death was acute heart failure. The request for a Georgian expert to be allowed to examine Tatunashvili’s body has been rejected.
Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili made a statement, saying that the reason for his death would be “immediately provided to the European Union Monitoring Mission and Geneva International Discussions co-chairs.” According to his statement, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs has started an official investigation into his death.
The State Minister for Reconciliation, Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, issued his own statement, saying “the life of another person fell victim to the occupation regime.”
The Georgian State Security Service has denied claims made by so-called Tskhinvali Security Service that Tatunashvili had been working for the Georgian security agencies.
By Tom Day