Georgian villager of Knolevi detained by Russian border guards

Russian border guards have detained a 60-year-old resident of the Georgian village of Knolevi, when he was cultivating his land plot together with his son, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has reported.

"We received information that in Knolevi a local resident named Tortladze was illegally detained," said Shalva Enukidze, the director of the information-analytical department of the Georgia's MIA.

The incident occurred on July 18 at about 1:00 p.m. Moscow time. At the moment of detention, Tortladze was with his son, who managed to escape. According to preliminary information, the detainee was brought to the Tskhinvali isolation facility, the "Echo of the Caucasus" reports, referring to Enukidze.

The village of Knolevi is located in the Kareli District of Georgia, to the south-west of Tskhinvali; and South Ossetia's border posts are some 4-5 kilometres off the village, the "Civil.Ge" reports, referring to the Committee on Information and Press of South Ossetia.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" has reported about five persons detained on July 17 on the Georgian-South-Ossetian border. They intended to hold a protest against the removal of a banner indicating the border of South Ossetia and were detained by special agents of the Georgian MIA. All of them were released on July 18 by a court judgement.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.