Murder of Giga Otkhozoria

During the 1992-1993 War in Abkhazia, the Russian-backed separatist forces conducted a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia, who were at that time making up majority of Abkhazia's population. Due to ethnic expulsion, a number of Georgians living in Abkhazia fell from 239,872 in 1989 to 45,953 by 2003. Georgians remaining in Abkazia continued to face numerous challenges. The United Nations and other international organizations have been fruitlessly urging the Abkhaz de facto authorities "to refrain from adopting measures incompatible with the right to return and with international human rights standards, such as discriminatory legislation… [and] to cooperate in the establishment of a permanent international human rights office in Gali and to admit United Nations civilian police without further delay."[3] In the Gali district, where majority is ethnic Georgian, a Georgian-based education has been replaced by Russian one. The last 11 Georgian schools were closed in 2015, depriving ethnic Georgians of the right to receive education in their mother tongue. As such, ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia face significant challenges that other ethnic groups do not experience, including difficulties in exercising some civil and political rights. Ethnic Georgians in Gali district (98% of the population) lack any representation since they are barred from participating in elections due to lack of voting rights. As such, around 900 voters were registered for the local elections, out of 30,259 residents in the district.[4]

After the conflict, many Georgian families remained divided across the administrative boundary line. According to Abkhaz authorities in Gali, around 5 000 people commute back and forth across the boundary line.[5] Ethnic Georgians who cross the boundary line face significant challenges. According to Gali resident, "If a policeman on the Abkhazian side is drunk, he might offend you. They will inspect your bags and everything else. You cannot even carry a Coca-Cola bottle bearing Georgian writing... Once, one of my friends bought a kitchen appliance and was asked to pay 50 GEL ($20) in order to take it home. But she was lucky because only one man was there. You should also give money to everyone else who comes. This happens only to ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia".[6]

Giga Otkhozoria, a Georgian citizen, was murdered on May 19, 2016. According to Otkhozoria's relatives, he was bringing food products for a funeral ceremony for his late aunt. The Abkhaz border guard officers demanded a bribe in exchange for allowing him to bring the products across the boundary, which caused a quarrel.[7] Otkhozoria tried to escape, but four Abkhaz border guard officials followed him through the Georgian territory and entered Georgian district of Zugdidi. They murdered him in the village of Khurcha, with locals witnessing the murder. Six shots were fired at Otkhozoria.[7] The murderers crossed into Abkhazia, but they were identified by the cameras in Khurcha.[8]

The Georgian law enforcement launched investigation into the incident and identified the murderers based on camera recordings.[9] The man who fired shots was identified as Rashid Kanji-Ogli, an Abkhaz serviceman, and the prosecution charged him with murder.[9] He was tried in in absentia in Georgian courts and sentenced to 12 years in prison on December 26, 2016. On May 10, 2017, the court of appeals sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment.[10]

The Abkhaz authorities also launched the investigation, but soon closed the case, citing "lack of evidence".[1][11] To this day, no one has been punished for the murder of Otkhozoria.[9]

The government of Georgia raised the issue of handing over the murderer several times, in no avail.[12] The murder of Giga Otkhozoria, along with a similar case involving murder of ethnic Georgian Archil Tatunashvili in South Ossetia, prompted the Georgian authorities to compile Otkhozoria–Tatunashvili List to bring criminals to justice for their actions through international sanctions. This caused protests from the Russian and Abkhazian authorities, and in response they suspended peace talks held with Georgia through Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism format.[13]

Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili expressed his regret over the incident, saying that "such cases have to be unequivocally condemned by all the parties".[14]

On November 8, 2018, the European Court of Human Rights began to examine the case.[15]