In Abkhazia, five border infringers fined

Today, the City Court of Gali released five persons detained on Sunday, January 31, in Saberio village, Gali District of Abkhazia, for illegal crossing the Georgian-Abkhazian border.

Their detention was undertaken by Russian frontier guards, who take their service in the district under the Abkhazian-Russian agreement on joint border guarding. Two of the detainees are residents of the Tsalendzhikh District of Georgia, the other three live in Saberio village, Gali District.

The court ruled to fine the infringers. Those two, who had only Abkhazian passports on them, were fined by 1500 roubles each. On three of them, passports both of Abkhazia and Georgia were found; they were fined by 2500 roubles each. After paying their fines, they all, including a woman of 65, were released right in the courtroom.

As one of infringers said, they had been detained because the contingent of frontier troops was changed in Abkhazia. According to his version, the change of old militaries for new soldiers still more complicated the situation with the passage between the villages of Saberio and Tskhoushi, causing restrictions of travel and encroachment on people's rights.

However, according to the statement of Maxim Gvindzhiya, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia, in fact, the Abkhazian-Georgian border has been closed for a long time; and only residents of the frontier Gali District of Abkhazia have the right to exit to Georgia.

Mr Gvindzhiya said in his interview to the "Echo of the Caucasus" Radio that in the Gali District detentions of persons who cross the border in unspecified places are frequent.

"They are stopped and warned for the first time. On the second time, they are fined, and on the third time the fine goes up. We take steps to strengthen the border and urge them to cross it in specified places," he said.

The Minister has noted that actually the border can be crossed without any problems through legal check points on the Inguri Bridge and in the villages of Saberio and Otobaya.