CITIZENS OF ARMENIA, WHO VISITED ABKHAZIA OR SOUTH OSSETIA, GET IMPRISONED IN GEORGIA

16:43 09/10/2006

According to Armenian Azg daily, at present moment, about 100 Armenian
citizens are under arrest in Georgia on the charge of illegal
crossing of the Georgian-Russian border. As the daily explains,
according to the Georgian Criminal Code, for illegal crossing of the
Georgian-Russian border for the first time there is a fine of $2,000,
the second infringement is punished with imprisonment for 3-5 years.

As the paper says, "the fact of illegal crossing the Georgian-Russian
border is treated exclusively in the Georgian way." "It turns out
that an Armenian citizen violates the Georgian legislation, if he
or she arrives into Abkhazia or South Ossetia from the Russian
territory. Besides, entrance visa about visiting these regions
in the passport is a ‘sign’ of the guilt. Practically, it turns
out that Georgia closed entrance to Abkhazia and South Ossetia for
Armenian citizens, as it is senseless to visit Georgia after these
territories. The practice applied in Georgia is consonant with the
one of Azerbaijan concerning people who visited Nagorno Karabakh. If
Azerbaijan raises hysterics about Russian pop singers and reporters
visiting Karabakh, and Azerbaijanis who have been there are treated
as traitors, Georgia applies criminal persecution to such people,"
Azg reports.