Irakli Antadze, the deputy head of the analytical department of the State Security Service of Georgia, said on Friday that five Georgian citizens remained illegally detained by the de facto authorities of Georgia’s Tskhinvali region in central Georgia. 

Ahead of the Ergneti incident prevention and response mechanism meeting today, Antadze confirmed that Gela Iobashvili and Nukri Kalashnikov had been recently arrested by the occupation forces for “illegally crossing the border”, while Mamuka Chkhikvadze, Kakhaber Natadze and Lasha Khetereli have been in illegal custody for several months on. 

The security official has told journalists that the occupation forces arrested Iobashvili, a resident of Perevi village, Sachkheri municipality, in western Georgia, on September 14, noting that   Information was not transferred via the hotline managed by the European Union Monitoring Mission. 

According to Antadze, the security service received a notification only on Thursday that the so-called Tskhinvali court sentenced the man to two months in pretrial custody. 

The official did not specify when Kalashnikov, a resident of Kareli municipality, in central Georgia, was detained by the occupation forces. 

Tbilisi is expected to raise the issue of the release of the unlawfully arrested individuals at today’s meeting, along with other issues.