Bagapsh Wants CoE to Facilitate in Release of Captured Abkhazians

Sergey Bagapsh, the Abkhaz leader, said he wanted Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe?s (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights, to help in the release of seven Abkhaz border guards captured by the Georgian side in the September 20 clash.

Hammarberg, who visited Tbilisi and Sokhumi in February 2007, facilitated the release of a Georgian prisoner, Levan Mamasakhlisi, who had spent five years in an Abkhaz prison.

?Talks are underway with the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights and with all the relevant international organizations,? Apsnipress quoted Bagapsh as saying at a news conference on September 24.

?Lots of human rights activists visit Abkhazia to defend the rights of Georgians,? he said. ?They should also protect the rights of the Abkhaz border guards.?

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