Political forces and NGOs of Georgia provoke the family of Zaza Gakheladze, who is serving a sentence in South Ossetia, to illegal actions, thereby aggravating the situation and politicizing the issue, Deputy Presidential Envoy for Post-Conflict Settlement Yegor Kochiev told the “Res” news agency.
On June 17, the leader of the Georgian public movement “Strength in Unity”, David Katsarava, on his Facebook page announced another provocative initiative on June 23, allegedly aimed at encouraging the Georgian leadership to take more active steps to release the convict.
“Zaza Gakheladze is kept in normal conditions; he is well treated. They organized meetings with his family, through the ICRC mission in Tskhinval they send parcels from home during the period specified by law,” Kochiev said.
He noted that "any actions that are held at the border are provocative, especially in the context of a convicted citizen of Georgia who violated the law and is serving a sentence determined by the court."
“A person is serving a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty according to the law, and I absolutely do not understand the hysterical actions by which various political forces, including Georgian NGOs, fueled by not entirely adequate Georgian media, are trying to destabilize the situation and provoke the South Ossetian authorities to take some actions, - noticed Kochiev. “No matter what they try to impose, no matter how hard they try to provoke, everything is happening in South Ossetia and will continue to happen within the framework of the law.”
Yegor Kochiev noted that " if Gakheladze's relatives had not listened to all political forces and NGOs in Georgia, but had turned to the ICRC, they would most likely have arranged a meeting with him (the prisoner – Ed.)."
“Instead, they are trying to attract attention to themselves with provocative actions that will lead nowhere. Such actions will only become an obstacle for possible meetings with Gakheladze,” he concluded.
