Georgian government initiates mitigation of law on occupied territories

Today, the Georgian government has approved a proposal to ease the law on occupied territories, namely, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as considered by Georgia, and is ready to bring a respective bill for approval of the Parliament.

The Law "On Occupied Territories" was adopted by the Georgian Parliament after the events in August 2008. According to the document, the foreigners visiting Abkhazia and South Ossetia without a permission of the Georgian authorities, are under a threat of criminal responsibility, since Tbilisi treats Abkhazia and South Ossetia as territories occupied by Russia.

As stated at today's briefing by Paata Zakareishvili, the Georgian State Minister for Reintegration, the government finds it unfair to detain, as defined by the current law, foreigners directly at their entrance to Georgia through the "occupied territories", the "News-Georgia" reports.

Under the proposed amendments, at the first illegal visit of the "occupied territories", offenders will be subject to administrative punishment. A criminal case will be instituted against them only in case of a repeated violation of the law, the "Tbilisi Week" reports.