Abkhazia: two residents of Taglan convicted for spying in favour of Georgia

The Supreme Court of Abkhazia has sentenced Djemiko Okudjava and Otari Djgarkava, two residents of the Taglan village of the pre-border Gali District to 13 and 11.5 years of imprisonment, respectively in a high security penal colony.

Okudjava and Djgarkava were detained in March 2012 on suspicion of spying for Georgia, the spokesman of the State Security Service (SSS) of Abkhazia said today.

According to the press service of the SSS, the cooperation of Okudjava and Djgarkava with the Georgian special services began in February 2011, after their recruitment by Major Koba Todua, the head of Division 3 of the Department of the Military Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Georgia.

The Major instructed the spies to attract a serviceman of the Frontier Troops of the Russian FSB in the Republic of Abkhazia to cooperation, said the press of the SSS.

According to the press service, the recruited soldier collected and passed through Djgarkava and Okudjava on different carriers the information, which is a state secret: the composition of the combat frontier unit, call signs of Russian border checkpoints, and new radio frequencies.