The Public Defender of Georgia echoes the frequent cases of illegal detention of Georgian citizens by the representatives of the occupation regime. In April, 5 Georgian citizens living near the villages of Artsevi, Otrevi and Dirbi were illegally arrested.

The mentioned cases clearly show that the occupation regime continues the illegal practice of arresting people for the so-called illegal border crossing.

The Public Defender of Georgia emphasizes that similar illegal actions carried out by the occupation regime grossly violate the rights and freedoms of the population living in the occupied territories, which once again proves the necessity of allowing international human rights monitoring missions to work in the occupied territories.

It should be noted that on April 9, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a judgement that once again held the Russian Federation responsible for the human rights violations in the occupied territories of Georgia.[1] In particular, according to the court's explanation, any arrest/imprisonment of ethnic Georgians for crossing the occupation line is a violation of Article 5 of the European Convention (Right to liberty and security). The judgement of the European Court of Human Rights of January 21, 2021 also points to the responsibility of the Russian Federation.

The Public Defender hopes that in the current situation, the Georgian authorities, with the help of international organizations, will spare no effort to ensure the release of Georgian citizens as soon as possible.

[1] Judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Georgia v. Russia IV. Information is available on the website: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-232000%22]}.