Murder of Tamaz Ginturi | |
---|---|
Part of Georgian–Ossetian conflict | |
Date | November 6, 2023 - November 9, 2023 |
Victims | Tamaz Ginturi Levan Dotiashvili |
Perpetrator | Border Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation |
On November 6, 2023, two Georgian citizens, Tamaz Ginturi and Levan Dotiashvili, were attacked by the Border Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) near the border of Georgia and the internationally unrecognized self-proclaimed state of South Ossetia, resulting in the murder of Ginturi and the illegal detention of Dotiashvili, sparking an international diplomatic incident as the event took place on the eve of the planned release of a European Commission report that is to recommend if Georgia should be granted European Union membership candidate status or not. [1]
Tamaz Ginturi (aged 58) and Levan Dotiashvili (aged 33) were both residents of Kirbali, a village ~500m from the internationally recognized South Ossetian-Georgian border. [1] Ginturi was a veteran of the Russo-Georgian War as a member of the Karaleti Special Forces. [1] [2]
The border between South Ossetia and Georgia is manned jointly by the FSB and the South Ossetian State Security Committee (KGB) and have engaged in the practice of "creeping occupation" or "creeping annexation", where, periodically, Russian and South Ossetian forces move the border fence marking the boundary of South Ossetia deeper into Georgian territory a couple dozen meters at a time. [1] Due to this, the border has moved from 500m away from the village, to right on top of it, with South Ossetia "annexing" the church and graveyard just to the north of the village. [1]
Both Ginturi and Dotiashvili lost loved ones in the 2008 war who were buried in the village's cemetery, in Ginturi's case, his father. [1] On November 6, 2023, pair made an attempt to pay respects when FSB personnel opened fire, shooting Ginturi several times in the chest and back and taking Dotiashvili into custody, sending him to a prison in Tskhinvali. [1] According to Dotiashvili, the Russian forces did not attack when they crossed the border, or paid respects at the cemetery, but rather ambushed the pair on the doorstep to the locked, abandoned, St. George of Lomisi Church where they tried to light a candle for their lost ones. [2] According to residents of Kirbali, Ginturi was not killed instantly, but rather he slowly bled to death while Russia border guards prevented anyone from approaching and offering aid. [3]
Immediately after the murder of Ginturi and kidnapping of Dotiashvili the State Security Service of Georgia (SUS) convened a meeting with Russian representatives and the EU Monitoring Mission. [1] At said meeting, Russian officials agreed to release Dotiashvili and that Ginturi's killers will be punished. [1] Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry of South Ossetia stated that Ginturi and Dotiashvili "displayed an extreme level of aggression towards the servicemen of the border guard and posed a threat to their life and health", refusing to apologize for the incident. [1] Additionally, South Ossetian officials reported that Ginturi was killed while attempting to cross the border while intoxicated, a claim rejected by both Georgian and Russian officials, and directly contrary to Dotiashvili's testimony that the pair came under attack while attempting to return to Georgia. [4] Additionally, South Ossetian officials denied any deaths, and stated that one suspect was taken to a hospital in Georgia, which never happened, and that both Ginturi and Dotiashvili were "radical representatives" of Mikheil Saakashvili and that the pair who sought to destroy the South Ossetian border and state and called on the Georgian government to recognize South Ossetia as independent to prevent further border incidents. [4]
Dotiashvili would be released and returned to Georgian authorities on November 9, where he was able to testify a course of events for the incident, stating that there was a warning shot as the pair attempted to open the door to the church, which resulted in the pair running to their car in an attempt to leave, with Ginturi being killed attempting to drive back to the border. [2] Dotiashvili stated that the Russian personnel instructed him to use Ginturi's phone to call an ambulance and report the incident to local Georgian authorities. [4] Shortly after the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia announced they would be pursuing legal charges on the perpetrators for violating Articles 109 and 143 of the Criminal Code of Georgia on “premeditated murder” and “illegal deprivation of liberty." [2] Georgian Public Defender, Levan Ioseliani, announced on November 29 that his office was actively collecting evidence for the trial. [5]
Ginturi's body was recovered on the same day as his death by local Georgian Police and was given a funeral with full military honors on November 11 which was attended by his relatives, friends, fellow villagers, politicians, and human rights activists. [2] One of which was Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili who personally met with Ginturi's family in their home to offer condolences. [4]
On November 12, Russian sources claimed that Ginturi had been attempting to force open the door of the church with an ax and threatened an FSB agent that told him to stop and ignored a warning shot before being killed, in direct contrast to the testimony of Dotiashvili who stated the pair fled when they heard the warning shot, and that Ginturi was killed in their car. [6]
On November 14, the Georgian Parliament observed a moment of silence for Tamaz Ginturi, at which, Speaker of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili stated that "the primary national objective for Georgia and all Georgians is to put an end to the occupation and restore territorial integrity." [7]
Ginturi and Dotiashvili crossed the border without incident and paid respects at the local cemetery. When they found the door to the church locked, Ginturi attempted to pry it open with an ax to light a candle for their loved ones. The pair then heard a warning shot and ran back to their car in an effort to leave, only for Ginturi to be shot in the back and chest as Russian border guards had surrounded the pair unbeknownst to them and Dotiashvili was detained. Dotiashvili then was made to call Georgian emergency services to pick up Ginturi's body before being taken to a prison in Tskhinvali. [1]
Ginturi and Dotiashvili crossed the border without incident and paid respects at the local cemetery. When they found the door to the church locked, Ginturi attempted to pry it open with an ax. Then a Russian border guard approached the pair and ordered them to stop, at which Ginturi threatened the guard who, in turn, fired a warning shot. When Ginturi ignored the warning he was killed and Dotiashvili was arrested and sent to a prison in Tskhinvali. [6]
Ginturi and Dotiashvili, agents of the former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, attempted to drunkenly cross the border with an ax on a mission to destroy border instillations, and were repelled after a short fire fight by Russian border guards, with one of the two being seriously wounded and taken to a Georgian hospital. [4]
South Ossetia, officially the Republic of South Ossetia or the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked country in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated population of just over 56,500 people (2022), who live in an area of 3,900 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi), with 33,000 living in the capital city, Tskhinvali.
Java or Dzau is a town of approximately 1,500 people in the disputed de facto independent Republic of South Ossetia, internationally considered part of Shida Kartli, Georgia. According to Georgia's current official administrative division, Java is a main town of Java district in the north of Shida Kartli region. According to the South Ossetian side Dzau is an administrative center of Dzau district. The town is situated on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus, within the Greater Liakhvi Gorge, 1,040 m (3,412 ft) above sea level.
The Georgian Civil War lasted from 1991 to 1993 in the South Caucasian country of Georgia. It consisted of inter-ethnic and international conflicts in the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as the violent military coup d'état against the first democratically-elected President of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, and his subsequent uprising in an attempt to regain power.
The Georgian–Ossetian conflict is an ethno-political conflict over Georgia's former autonomous region of South Ossetia, which evolved in 1989 and developed into a war. Despite a declared ceasefire and numerous peace efforts, the conflict remained unresolved. In August 2008, military tensions and clashes between Georgia and South Ossetian separatists erupted into the Russo-Georgian War. Since then, South Ossetia has been under a de-facto Russian control.
The 1991–1992 South Ossetia War was fought between Georgian government forces and ethnic Georgian militias on one side and the forces of South Ossetian separatists and Russia on the other. The war ended with a Dagomys Agreement, signed on 24 June 1992, which established a joint peacekeeping force and left South Ossetia divided between the rival authorities.
Though tensions had existed between Georgia and Russia for years and more intensively since the Rose Revolution, the diplomatic crisis increased significantly in the spring of 2008, namely after Western powers recognized the independence of Kosovo in February and following Georgian attempts to gain a NATO Membership Action Plan at the 2008 Bucharest Summit; and while the eventual war saw a full-scale invasion of Georgia by Russia, the clashes that led up to it were concentrated in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two separatist Georgian regions that received considerable Russian support over the years.
The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia, was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the Russian-backed separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The fighting took place in the strategically important South Caucasus region. It is regarded as the first European war of the 21st century.
The Battle of Tskhinvali was a fight for the city of Tskhinvali, the capital of the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia. It was the only major battle in the Russo-Georgian War. Georgian ground troops entered the city on early 8 August 2008. After the three-day fierce fighting with South Ossetian militia and Russian troops, Georgian troops finally withdrew from the city on the evening of 10 August. By 11 August, all Georgian troops had left South Ossetia and Russian forces advanced into undisputed Georgia facing no resistance.
The Russo-Georgian War broke out in August 2008 and involved Georgia, Russian Federation, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
This article describes the background of the Russo-Georgian War.
The Russo-Georgian War included an extensive information war. Russia spread disinformation to discredit Georgia, Ukraine and the United States even after the end of armed hostilities.
Ganarjiis Mukhuri is a village in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region of western Georgia, in the Zugdidi municipality. It is situated at the border with Abkhazia and the city of Zugdidi. The village area is located by the Black Sea and on the right bank of the Enguri River, with the village center six kilometers from the sea. Within the administrative division of the municipality, Ganmukhuri is not part of a community, but is an so called independent village.
The Russo-Georgian War had a huge humanitarian impact on the lives of civilians. In the aftermath of the war, ethnic Georgians were expelled from South Ossetia,Georgia and most of the Georgian villages were razed.
The 2008 war between Russia and Georgia created controversy, with both sides blaming each other for starting the war.
Russian-occupied territories in Georgia are areas of Georgia that have been occupied by Russia since the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. They consist of the regions of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and the former South Ossetian Autonomous Region of Soviet Georgia, whose status is a matter of international dispute.
The events in 2010 in Georgia.
South Ossetia is a partially recognised landlocked state, approximately 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above sea level on the slopes of the Greater Caucasus. Although it declared independence in 2008, only a few countries acknowledge it. The region is inhabited by Ossetians, an Iranian ethnic group. According to Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria and Nauru, it is one of the world's newest independent states. All other states and international organisations consider South Ossetia a part of Georgia, functioning as a de facto state for twenty years after declaring independence and conducting a successful armed rebellion. Its Georgian inhabitants have been displaced. South Ossetia has been a source of tension for a number of years, with Georgia and Russia's political differences impeding peaceful independence and breeding a turbulent series of events which undermine the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Georgia–South Ossetia separation line is a de facto boundary set up in aftermath of the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War and Russo-Georgian War, which separates the self-declared Republic of South Ossetia from the territory controlled by the Government of Georgia. South Ossetia, and those states that recognise its independence, view the line as an international border separating two sovereign states, whereas the Georgian government views it as an occupation line in accordance with the Georgian "Law on Occupied Territories of Georgia". The Constitution of Georgia does not recognize South Ossetia as having any special status within Georgia, therefore the line does not correspond to any Georgian administrative area, with the territory claimed by the Republic of South Ossetia shared out amongst several Georgian Mkhares: Shida Kartli, Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti and Mtskheta-Mtianeti.
Events in the year 2023 in Georgia.
After the Russo-Georgian War in August 2008, a number of incidents occurred in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Tensions between Georgia, Ukraine, the United States and the NATO on one side and Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other side remained high in 2008–2009. There were expectations that armed hostilities between Russia and Georgia would resume in 2009.