Unfortunately, the situation in the cases of Basharuli and Kvaratskhelia, who died as a result of occupation, has not changed. Such a statement made today the Deputy Head of the State Security Service, while presenting the annual 2020 report in the parliament.

According to Aleksi Batiashvili, the occupation of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions by Russia remains the country’s main threat.

“The Kremlin maintained policies of de facto annexation of the occupied regions. On top of that, militarization, and military exercises were actively carried out on the spot. Amid the COVID-19, the fundamental rights of the ethnic Georgian population in the occupied regions were further restricted and their condition worsened.

64 cases of the so-called illegal detention in the occupied Tskhinvali region and 13 more cases in the occupied Abkhazia region were detected in 2020. Dozens of Georgian citizens have been released from illegal detention through the efforts of the Georgian central Government and international partners. In some cases, the occupation regime gave long prison sentences for illegally detained Georgian citizens, including the cases of Zaza Gakheladze and Irakli Bebua”, - added the First Deputy Head of the SSSG.

He also said that last year the counterintelligence department of the State Security Service launched an investigation into 12 cases, while the state security department did so into five.