Tbilisi Demands the Release of Georgians being held in Abkhazia

The Georgian Foreign Ministry condemned on March 6 the detention of three Georgians in breakaway Abkhazia and demanded their immediate release.

Tea Sharia, Tariel Sokhadze and Teimuraz Eliava from the youth organization “Art Salon” were touring Abkhazia to film Georgian churches. They were arrested by the Abkhaz security service on March 2. The Georgian media sources reported the detention of only two persons on March 5.

According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, all three detainees were “brutally beaten” and taken into custody in the Abkhaz capital, Sukhumi. “They are in need of immediate medical aid,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry reported.
 
According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, this incident is yet another case of “systematic and flagrant violation in Abkhazia of universally recognized human rights and freedoms.”

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