TBILISI, DFWatch–A Georgian woman released Tuesday by Tskhinvali says he was physically abused when she was apprehended but was treated better during her 10 day long captivity.
Maia Otinashvili, a 37 year old mother of three minors, was handed over to Georgian authorities at the village Ergneti after allegedly paying a 15,000 ruble (USD 227) fine and being given a one year probation.
She was seized by force in her own orchard, on territory controlled by Georgia’s central authorities, Otinashvili says, adding that during her detention she was physically abused because she resisted. Then she was rushed blindfolded to a Russian military facility in Tsinagari, she said.
But during her detention she wasn’t beaten as was reported earlier, Otinashvili said.
“I stayed one day at the Russian [military] base, from morning till evening. I had to sign some papers there. Then I was moved to Tskhinvali jail,” Maia Otinashvili recalls.
“On the fifth day I was tried by [Akhalgori] court and sentenced to one month of pre-trial captivity. Altogether I was taken to two court hearings and [eventually] sentenced to one year probation,” Otinashvili said to Georgian journalists insisting her innocence.
Maia Otinashvili was charged with facilitating people to cross ‘the state border’ illegally. Her house in the village of Khurvaleti is adjacent to the conflict line. Tskhinvali regime claim she was detained inside the territory of the breakaway republic, which has been flatly denied by Otinashvili and several eyewitnesses.
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