Lado Bitchashvili, Shida Kartli
On June 20, inhabitants of Bershueti village, Gori municipality, who were abducted from the chapel nearby the occupation line – Nikoloz Javakhishvili, 19, and Gocha Berianidze, 17, were released on June 21 after their families paid 2 000 Russian rubles. They were handed to the Georgian side in the neutral territory of Ergneti village. The young men were questioned in the Shida Kartli regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Reportedly, the young men were kidnapped from the Georgia-controlled territory. Locals said often Russian and Ossetian military servants breach the so-called “borderline” and abduct people from the Georgia-controlled territory.
According to the State Security Service of Georgia, during the past six months, the occupation regime arrested 53 citizens of Georgia for alleged illegal crossing of so-called “border” and nowadays all of them are free.