15:14, 12 March 2004

Abkhazian side releases Georgian woodcutters after four months of detention

Four residents of Georgia's Tsalendjikha district (neighboring to Abkhazia's Gali district) detained by the Abkhazian side in early November 2003 not far from the Georgian village Muzhava in the Tsalendjikha district were set free by a decision of the Sukhumi Court on March 10.

The detainees were charged with crossing the border with Abkhazia and illegal felling on its territory. The forest in which the woodcutters prepared firewood occupies the territory of both the Tsalendjikha and Gali districts. The woodcutters themselves said they had not noticed when they had stepped on the territory that is under control of the Abkhazian side.

By its decision, the Sukhumi Court set the detainees free from the courtroom because it saw no crime in their actions.

Source: Novosti-Gruzia Information Agency