Public Defender: It is important to demand, with the involvement of the international community, that those who committed the crime of murdering Tamaz Ginturi be held accountable

It is important to involve the international community in the issue of the murder of Tamaz Gintur and through them demand that those who committed the crime be held accountable. For this, all international mechanisms should be activated, the Public Defender of Georgia, Levan Ioseliani, told journalists when he spoke about the killing of Georgian citizen Tamaz Ginturi by the Russian occupation forces.

According to him, the Office of the Public Defender is trying its best to be involved in the process regarding Ginturi's case.

"We arrived and I met the family members, including the abducted citizen, whom I talked to. An investigation is underway. We have submitted our inquiries as part of this investigation, and as soon as we have more information that we can share with the public regarding the investigation, that will of course be made public. The Public Defender is working in this direction, and in the end, the opportunity we have will be involved as much as possible to ensure that the public has complete information about this killing.

It is important to involve the international community in the issue and through them to demand that whoever committed the crime be held accountable; all international mechanisms should be activated," said Levan Ioseliani.

According to him, it is the government's responsibility to take care of the safety of its citizens, therefore, every effort should be made to protect the rights and safety of our citizens who live along the occupation line.

"Specifically, what steps should be taken, how and where checkpoints should be opened, I cannot give you an answer. This is the competence of other agencies, but their safety, daily peace must be protected, we have been talking about this for a long time. If it were protected, we would not have to deal with the facts that are happening - kidnappings, killing of our citizens. It is a fact that more efforts are needed in the area of security. I am often asked what should be done, I cannot answer this question because it is a very specific activity of the special services, the police, and they must take the measures that ensure the safety of our citizens," Ioseliani said.

For information, Georgian citizen Tamaz Ginturi was shot dead by Russian occupation forces on November 6, and Levan Dotiashvili was kidnapped and released 3 days after the incident. Tamaz Ginturi and Levan Dotiashvili were going to the church of Lomisi to light candles, when the representatives of the Russian occupation forces opened fire. Tamaz Gintur was laid to rest with military honors in Kirbali on November 11.

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