16:00, 22 January 2011

Russian citizen convicted for smuggling uranium released in Georgia

Oleg Khintsagov, a Russian citizen and a resident of North Ossetia, has been released after serving his term for uranium contraband. Thanks to the presidential amnesty he spent in custody four years instead of eight.

"Khintsagov's term has expired, and, accordingly, he was set free," said Shola Khizanishvili, Head of the Administration of Georgia's MIA, on December 21, without specifying the date of release and other details of the case.

Oleg Khintsagov was arrested in January 2006 and sentenced to eight years in prison. He refuted the accusations, saying that he had imported not uranium but typographic oxide into Georgia.

According to unofficial information, Khintsagov was released back on January 6, 2011, but he came home only on January 20. He said that after his release he did not get his identity documents back; thus, so he was forced to stay in Georgia until the Russian consulate issued him new documents to leave the country, the "News-Georgia" reports.

The "Echo of the Caucasus" Radio adds that in the coming years the former prisoner does not intend to return to Georgia