2021-02-06
Today, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia met with the Ambassadors of Georgia's strategic partners, the United States of America and the European Union: Kelly Degnan and Carl Hartzell, respectively, to discuss the recent extension of the unlawful detention of Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze in occupied Tskhinvali.
During the meeting at the Government Administration, the Head of Government requested maximal support from the diplomats Ambassadors toward the release of illegally detained Zaza Gakheladze and other Georgian citizens.
The meeting emphasized the importance of making use of diplomatic and legal mechanisms on an international level, and the recent ruing of the Court of Human Rights-including raising this issue at the highest level under the Geneva International Discussions and the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism-for putting an end to illegal detentions and blatant violations of fundamental rights along the occupation lines.
The diplomats reiterated concern over the decision of the de-facto court in Tskhinvali on extending the detention of a Georgian citizen. They also emphasized that he must be released immediately.
"It was an extremely important meeting on a very serious situation, The United States is very concerned and condemns the recent action taken yesterday against an illegally detained Georgian citizen, who has been detained since last July, on charges that are completely fabricated as far as we can tell. And we hope that there will be serious consideration given to resolving this quickly and releasing this Georgian citizen as soon as possible," US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Georgia Kelly Degnan stated.
"It raises a lot of concern. This is a case we have been following for months now, and we have been working through various instruments: the IPRM, the hotline, the Geneva Talks. This verdict, the follow-up to the illegal detention, is clearly a bad signal, something we take very seriously. We are urging for the immediate release from illegal detention. And we will eb continuously following up on this issue. I am very grateful for being called to the Prime Minister's Office to have a chance to discuss the situation. We are in full agreement on the need to continuously follow this issue very closely, because it is a concern," Head of the EU Delegation to Georgia Carl Hartzell said.
The meeting's participants also included Head of the Administration of the Georgian Government Kakhaber Kemoklidze.
Press Service of the Government Administration