Nanuashvili: criminal structures could not kidnap Jopua in the territory of Georgia

The case of kidnapping Garry Jopua has still remained undetected, Shota Utiashvili, head of Informational and Analytic Department of Georgian Ministry of Interior Affairs, said.

"I am very glad Jopua has recovered and can evidence. We will bring up the question first of all at our next meeting in Gala on November, 25, in order to sort out what has really happened", Utiashvili said to a reporter of "Caucasian Knot".

Garry Jopua kidnapped in the territory of the village of Khurcha, Zugdidi district of Georgia, has already left the military hospital in Agudzera. According to his doctor Guram Shoua, there are no reasons for concern about his patient's state.

At a pentalateral meeting on November, 2, in Gali district, Ruslan Kishmaria, Special representative of the President of Abkhazia in Gali district, brought up the question of Jopua's disappearance before the representatives of the Georgian Ministry of Interior Affairs. According to Ruslan Kishmaria's information, Georgian policemen had been keeping Garry Jopua in a prison of Zugdidi for false accusation of drug pushing. However, the Georgian party had denied the fact of Jopua's detention and declared there were no facts concerning his location at their disposal.

"I have no official information of Garry Jopua's detention by the forces of Georgian Ministry of Interior Affairs. According to Georgian laws, crossing the administrative border between Abkhazia and Samegrelo by residents of Abkhazia or the rest parts of Georgia in not a delinquency. If a person has committed no delinquency no one has the right to detain him. We have no information of violating the law by Garry Jopua", Shota Utiashvili told a reporter of "Caucasian Knot".

Ucha Nanuashvili, Director of NGO "Human Rights Center" considers that if Jopua had been kidnapped in Georgian territory it could not be done by members of criminal groups. "Georgian villages at the border with Abkhazia are under an intensified control of the Georgian special services. "It would not be serious to suppose any activities of uncontrolled criminal structures there", Nanuashvili told a reporter of "Caucasian Knot". 

Chairman of Human Rights Center Ucha Nanuashvili considers the case of Jopua's disappearance the most strange one.

"While he was still in hospital his relatives were in Zugdidi. According to them, he told them he had been kept somewhere high in the mountains. He did not know whether it was Svanetia or some other place. However Jopua's relatives said nothing of the details of when, how and who had kidnapped him", Nanuashvili said.

Nanuashvili informed that Garry Jopua's relatives had been in contact with his business partners, tradesmen selling vegetables and fruit on the Georgian side. "These tradesmen said they had seen Jopua's car in a Megrel village of Khurcha which bordered on Abkhazia. They had seen some men wearing the uniforms of Georgian special services standing near the car. However, they told nothing else. Nobody saw him being detained or carried off", Ucha Nanuashvili said.