Electoral office of presidential candidate Arshba shelled

Policemen have begun searching for the man who has shelled the electoral office of Oleg Arshba located in the Abkhaz village of Mgudzyrkhua today. The office staff has treated the incident as an attempt to intimidate the presidential candidate and his team.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the presidential election in Abkhazia is scheduled for August 25. After the Central Election Commission (CEC) annulled the registration of Astamur Otyrba, now, nine candidates, including Oleg Arshba, a former deputy foreign minister, are running for the presidency in Abkhazia.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Abkhazia, the building of the "Neptune" café in the village of Mgudzyrkhua, rented by Oleg Arshba's electoral office, was shelled between 1:00 and 9:00 a.m. The website of the MIA reports that the shooter and the firearm that he used have not been established yet.

No one was hurt during the shelling, Beslan Agrba, the head of the village administration, has reported.

The electoral office of Oleg Arshba and Oleg Bartsits, the candidate for vice-president, will continue working, despite the shelling attack, said Leonid Lakerbaya, the head of the office. "The motives for the shelling are very clear. We treat this crime as intimidation of the electoral staff," the "Abkhazia-Inform" quotes Mr Likerbaya as stating.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 21, 2019 at 06:27 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.