04 September 2009, 23:10
Tskhinvali: Georgian journalist asks political asylum in South Ossetia
The family of the Georgian journalist Levan Gudadze, who criticized the regime of President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, applied for political asylum in South Ossetia. This was reported by Murat Dzhioev, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Ossetia.
The "Caucasian Knot" has already reported that in August at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border a citizen of Georgia addressed Belarus frontier guards with a request to grant him a refuge. Then, the press service of the Frontier Committee of Belarus stated that recently on the border with the European Union the number of cases had increased, when citizens of Georgia tried to penetrate into the countries of Eastern and Western Europe in search of better life or a refuge.
According to Rosa Bichikashvili, the journalist's mother, they decided to leave Georgia because of the threats to her son for his journalistic activity. "In different time, Levan ran in Tbilisi three information websites, which were closed by the authorities one after another. He received telephone calls and letters with threats; therefore, we decided to leave the country," she said.
On September 3, the journalist with his mother, wife and a two-year-old daughter crossed the Ossetian-Georgian border and addressed soldiers at the border check point in the vicinity of Artsev village with a request to grant political asylum to them, writes the "Interfax".
The "Izvestia" newspaper reports that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Ossetia has confirmed this information.
No official comments were made so far by the Georgian party.
