Nanuashvili: participants in Lopota events legally came to Georgia not from Dagestan

The members of the armed group, blocked in August 2012 in Lopota Gorge, had legally entered the country. Some of the survivals in the special operation legally left Georgia and stay now in different countries, including Syria, said the Ombudsman of Georgia Ucha Nanuashvili.

"President Saakashvili had stated that the group of militants came from Dagestan and was going to organize some terror acts in the territory of Georgia. We've worked for three months on the report on Lopota events and saw that all happened not as the president reported," Ucha Nanuashvili said in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Immediately after the events, human rights NGOs and journalists began their own investigation, the Ombudsman has noted.

First of all, as he further explained, it was found that several suspected militants were from the Pankisi region of Georgia. "Besides, it was established that many of the casualties had entered Georgia from other countries. And, finally, there were testimonies of their relatives, who said that a few months before the Lopota operation these people had already been in Georgia and could not enter the country from Russia," said Ucha Nanuashvili.

However, the Ombudsman's inquiry did not reveal exactly who had been in command of the operation at its every stage.