Georgian citizen illegally arrested by occupation forces last year released

Georgian citizen Vladimer Kaniashvili, who was  arrested by the occupation forces on December 9, 2021, has been released, the Georgian State Security Service reported today.

The agency said that the central Georgian government had used all levers to ensure the release of the individual, including the hot line and the meetings of Incident Prevention and Response mechanism.

The State Security Service vowed to take “all steps possible” to ensure the release of other Georgian citizens who are currently in the de facto Tskhinvali region of Georgia, as well as in another Russian-controlled Abkhazia.

The agency reiterated that the “occupation regime bears full responsibility for the destructive actions carried out in the occupied regions and along the occupation line.”

The two Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali were recognized as independent states by Russia after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.

Illegal detention and kidnapping of Georgian citizens is a common practice by occupiers and secessionist regimes.