Update: New circumstances have become known to the Public Defender of Georgia about Maia Otinashvili, detained at the occupation line with Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia. According to the family of the detainee, she was beaten. The family claims, that she was beaten at the Russian base located in occupied villages of Tsinagari. Even though the detained has a lawyer, neither he/she has not been able to visit Maia Otinashvili in prison. According to the family, no independent observer was able to visit the detainee, which increases their doubts about the physical assault.

On the morning of 29^th of September 2018 in the village of Khurvaleti, Gori Municipality, a citizen of Georgia, mother of three minors, Maia Otinashvili was detained in her own garden. According to the information provided to the Public Defender by the eyewitnesses, armed persons with masks kidnapped the woman from the Tbilisi-controlled territory, about 50 meters from the barbed wire fence. Reportedly, on 2^nd of October, Maia Otinashvili was sentenced by the de facto court to pre trail detention for two months on the charges of “illegal crossing of the border”. She is also charged with helping citizens in “illegal crossing of the border” in exchange for money.

It has to be mentioned, that the acquaintances of the family regularly visit the area, where Otinashvili was kidnapped. While, Maia Otinashvili herself with her spouse and three children lives in Gori, which makes the claim of the de facto security services sound even more absurd. According to the information provided to the Public Defender, family members do not have enough information about the general condition and security of the detained.

The village of Khurvaleti is one of the most severely harmed villages along the boundary line. After the installation of the barbed wired fences, 36 hectares of agricultural land and pastures, cemetery and several houses remained on the occupied territory; since the year of 2008 de facto government stopped providing the village with irrigation water; kidnappings and detentions have become regular. According to the locals, Russian and Ossetian so called “border guards” often cross the barbed wire fences to Georgian controlled territory. Most recent case of kidnapping happened in June 2018. It has to be mentioned, that Maia Otinashvili is the fifth detained woman from Khurvaleti, which clearly reflects extremely difficult situation of the conflict-affected women.

The problems are aggravated by the fact that international human rights and monitoring organizations do not have access to conflict regions. In violation of the Six Point Peace Plan from August 2008, the Russian Federation hinders the access of the EU Monitoring Mission on both sides of the conflict divide. Public Defender believes, that international community should enhance their efforts, including by convincing Russian Federation to give international representations access to the conflict regions. To date, there is no independent and impartial organization in Tskhinvali, neither international, nor local that could personally meet the detainees and share the information with the families.

Public Defender calls on the Government of Georgia and the international organizations to strictly raise the cases of violation of the right to life and security and freedom of movement of Georgian citizens; to the co-chairs of Geneva International Discussions - to include in the negotiation agenda the creation of a more effective information exchange mechanism on the detained persons or refinement and broadening the scope of the existing mechanism of the EU Monitoring Mission. It could include, but not limited to, direct contact of the detainee with the family, giving specific persons the mandate to personally assess the situation of the detainee and the detention conditions. Furthermore, it is of utmost importance that the International Committee of the Red Cross enjoys unimpeded access to all of the closed facilities on the occupied territories.