Pankisi residents tell about militant killed in Syria

Amiran Borchashvili, a resident of the village of Dumasturi, who perished in Syria, grew up in a respected family and studied at the university; his departure for the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, surprised his friends, local residents told the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 12, it became known that Amiran Borchashvili, a citizen of Georgia and a native of the village of Dumashturi in the Pankisi Gorge, perished in Syria. The Georgian State Security Service (SSS) reported that he had fought for the IS, terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court ruling.

Amiran Borchashvili left Georgia in 2015 together with his cousin Aslanbeg Borchashvili. Earlier, they studied at the Telavi State University. Aslanbeg perished in Syria in June 2016.

Pankisi residents were surprised to know that Amiran went to war in Syria. "Everyone knows his father Ido as a peaceful man, who is tilling soil all his life. His mother Nana is also a peaceful, calm woman," the village elder has noted.

Ido and Nana Borchashvili have two more children.

"All the three studied very well; there were no problems with them," a school teacher told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to the calculations of the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own data and information from open sources, in recent years, at least 34 Pankisi natives have perished in Syria. Only within the last year – from March 2018 to the present – it was announced that nine migrants from Georgia perished in Syria, including Amiran Borchashvili.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 16, 2019 at 03:08 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.