Court in Georgia sentences Abkhazian border guard in absentia for murder of Georgian citizen
TBILISI. Dec 27 (Interfax) - The Zugdidi District Court has sentenced Abkhazian border guard Rashid Kandzhi-ogly in absentia to 12 years in prison for the murder of Georgian citizen Gigi Otkhozoria in the village of Khurcha in May.
During the court hearing, the relatives of the murdered Otkhozoria expressed their disappointment that the investigation failed to find the complete motives of the committed crime, the Georgian media said on Tuesday.
The Otkhozoria family's lawyer told reporters that the family of the murdered man intends to sue Russia in the Strasbourg court, the Georgian media said. However, he did not specify the details of the lawsuit.
According to the Georgian side, Otkhozoria was shot in the village of Khurcha not far from the border checkpoint on May 19. At that time, the district prosecutor's office of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region brought charges against Abkhazian border guard Kandzhi-ogly in absentia on the grounds of the murder. The Georgian authorities' representatives said that the Georgian side repeatedly called on Sukhum to extradite the man accused of the murder to Georgia.
According to the Abkhazian side, on May 19, an argument between a serviceman of the Abkhazian State Security Service's border control detachment Kandzhi-ogly and a Georgian citizen Otkhozoria occurred in the territory of the Nabakevi checkpoint on the Georgian-Abkhazian border. The Georgian citizen was refused entry to Abkhazia for not having the necessary documents. As a result of the incident, Otkhozoria was killed.
On May 20, the Abkhazian Prosecutor General's Office said that the investigation of the incident at the border with Georgia, following which a Georgian citizen was killed, was underway. The border guard was placed under house arrest.