Tamaz Ginturi Buried with Military Honors
Tamaz Ginturi’s was buried today with military honors in the village of Kirbali, a few hundred meters from where he was killed during an attempted illegal detention by the Russian occupying forces on November 6. Ginturi’s relatives, friends, fellow villagers, politicians, activists and human rights activists also came to pay their respects and bid him farewell.
Tamaz Ginturi, 58, a resident of Kirbali, was a veteran of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war and a former member of the Karaleti Special Forces. He was shot multiple times, including in the back, by Russian occupation forces near St. George of Lomisi Church near the village of Kirbali.
Nikoloz Ginturi, the brother of the killed said: “This is a very hard day for us… my brother had a great respect for the church and … he went to the Lomisi temple to light candles, the door was sealed and he opened it. They [Russians] ambushed him… I give a promise this door won’t be ever sealed again….” He also said that the family’s only request is for perpetrators of the killing to be duly punished.
Ginturi’s fellow villager Levan Dotiashvili, who was with him at the time of the killing, and got illegally detained by the Russian occupying forces, was handed over to the Georgian side on November 9.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs said that an investigation into the murder of a Georgian citizen and the abduction of a person has been opened under Articles 109 and 143 of the Criminal Code of Georgia on “premeditated murder” and “illegal deprivation of liberty”.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
