Georgian MFA Condemns Death of Civilian in Gali
The death of ethnic Georgian Daniel Tsurtsumia, 21, a resident of Gali district of breakaway Abkhazia has triggered the Georgian Foreign Ministry to accuse Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in the Abkhaz conflict zone of failing ?to perform the obligations under their mandate to ensure the safety of the local population…[the peacekeepers] show a complete inertness over the gross violations of human rights in the predominantly Georgian-populated Gali district.
According to the Georgian side, Daniel Tsurtsumia, a resident of Gagida village, was ?forcibly conscripted? by the Abkhaz army after a raid by a 60-strong group of Abkhaz militiamen on the village on November 2. He was beaten after refusing to take an oath and consequently died on November 4.
?Such incidents clearly indicate the necessity of setting up a branch of the UN/OSCE Sukhumi Office for Human Rights in Gali and making the contingent of the UN Civil Police fully operational in this region – this was repeatedly underlined in the Resolutions of the UN Security Council, but failed to be activated because of the rigid position of the Abkhazian separatist regime,? the statement issued by the Georgian Foreign Ministry on November 4 reads.
On November 2 Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said that a special unit within the Ministry would closely monitor the human rights situation in the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflict zones to react to every case of human rights abuse.
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