Georgia: person accused of assaulting border guard arrested

The court has placed Giorgi Ichukaidze, accused of taking a Georgian border guard hostage on the border with Azerbaijan, behind bars. The man explained that he was not going to attack the border guard, but only wanted to drive Azerbaijani law enforcers away from the David Gareja Monastery Complex.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 14, Georgian law enforcers detained an armed man, who had taken a border guard hostage in an uncoordinated section of the border with Azerbaijan.

On January 16, the Tbilisi City Court considered the petition lodged by the Prosecutor’s Office (PO) and asking for a preliminary detention of Giorgi Ichukaidze, the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent reports. A PO’s employee has justified the demand by the fact that the defendant could impede the inquiry. The court satisfied the petition.

Giorgi Ichukaidze explained to the court that he had appeared at the Georgian-Azerbaijani border in order to drive Azerbaijani border guards away from the disputed border area, in which the David Gareja Monastery Complex is located. This territory belongs to Georgia, Mr Ichukaidze explained, adding that he was not going to harm Georgian border guards, and apologized to them.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 17, 2020 at 06:07 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.