A 35-year-old former Georgian troop, Levan Machabeli, who had been illegally under the arrest of the Russian Occupation Forces near the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region in March, has been released on Wednesday. The Georgian State Security Service has shared the information about his release.
The agency has clearly mentioned in its statement that it had used the hotline mechanism and other tools at the Georgian Government’s disposal to communicate regarding the release of Machabeli, with the de-facto authorities of the occupied region. The Russian Occupation Forces accused the ex-soldier of crossing the border ‘illegally’.
The statement further added, “The matter of the release of Machabeli from illegal arrest was regularly taken into concern in the format of Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism, and the information was constantly provided to the co-chairs of the international discussions in Geneva and international partners.”
Furthermore, the agency has promised to keep up the ‘active’ work for having the other illegally detained Georgian citizens by the Russian forces in the occupied region of Tskhinvali and Abkhazia regions.
In its previous statements, the Tskhinvali de facto security agency claimed that Levan Machabeli had active participation in the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia. Moreover, he was planning to take part against Russia in the ongoing war in Ukraine but withdrew due to his poor health.
“As he was unable to leave for Ukraine to fight there, Machabeli decided to stage a provocation and cause harm to Russians stationed in Tskhinvali – the agency stated after Machabeli’s arrest in April.
The Georgians have been facing the issues of illegal detentions near the line of occupation and released upon payment of penalty by their families. After the war, Russia declared the independence of Georgia’s occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions in August 2008.