A/HRC/39/44
55.
The lack of progress in investigating and/or ensuring justice in two other incidents
of alleged unlawful death or killing in past years continues to raise major concern. The
alleged perpetrator of the killing of an ethnic Georgian, Giga Otkhozoria, at the Abkhaz
Administrative Boundary Line in 2016 remains at large. According to the Public Defender
of Georgia, there has also been no progress in ensuring justice in the case of the
disappearance and death in 2014 of David Basharuli, a resident of Akhalgori, South
Ossetia. These incidents contribute to a climate of impunity in both areas.
3.
Restrictions on freedom of movement
56.
Various reports indicated that restrictions on freedom of movement, mainly around
the Administrative Boundary Lines, remained of particular concern in both Abkhazia and
South Ossetia and adjacent areas. In their report on human rights in Abkhazia, Mr.
Hammarberg and Ms. Grono referred to the situation related to freedom of movement as
“an acute issue”.31 In addition to constituting a human right per se, freedom of movement is
a condition necessary for the exercise of other rights and an important confidence-building
measure. Immediate attention to ensuring its respect in accordance with international
human rights norms and standards is essential.
57.
According to information received by OHCHR, the process of so-called
“borderization” has continued in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia, resulting in further
limitations to freedom of movement and severely affecting local livelihoods. Installation of
razor and barbed wire fences, trenches, “border signs” and other barriers across the
Administrative Boundary Lines, compounded by the deployment of surveillance
equipment, has continued. According to the submission of the Government of Georgia, the
process in both regions has led to approximately 25 villages being cut off, 800 families
losing access to agricultural lands and water supplies and 20 families being directly affected
by barbed wire installed through their property.
58.
The situation of the local population is reportedly rendered more vulnerable by the
very limited availability of open and functioning crossing points across the Administrative
Boundary Lines. In Abkhazia, only two crossing points ⸻ out of a total of six ⸻ remained
functional at the time of the finalization of the present report. According to various sources,
while the total number of persons crossing the Administrative Boundary Line has not
decreased since the closure of former crossing points, their closure has affected the
movement of the population residing in lower Gali District.
59.
According to information from the Government of Georgia, only two crossing points
are operating across the Administrative Boundary Line with South Ossetia and they are
reportedly closed periodically for various reasons. The establishment of a “customs post” at
the Mosabruni/Odzisi crossing point is reported, inter alia, to have added a layer of
difficulty to the crossing process. 32
60.
The authorities in control in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are reported to have
continued the practice of deprivation of liberty and/or levying of heavy fines in connection
with crossing the Administrative Boundary Lines, notably at what they consider
“unauthorized crossing points”. The deprivation of liberty is usually of short duration,
although cases of long-term duration in Abkhazia also occur in this context (see sect. D.4
below).
61.
OHCHR has continued to receive information on the implications of various
regulations, regimes and practices applied by the authorities in control in Abkhazia and
South Ossetia with regard to the possession of personal documents. These include the socalled “Law on Procedures of Exit from the Republic of Abkhazia and the Entry into the
Republic of Abkhazia” and the so-called “Law on the Legal Status of Foreigners in
Abkhazia”, providing, inter alia, for the introduction of a “foreign residence permit” meant
to regulate the stay of ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia, particularly in Gali, Tkvarcheli and
31
32
Hammarberg and Grono, p. 10.
See, inter alia, A/72/847, para. 19; and SG/Inf(2018)15, para. 53.
11
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