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Saakashvili Demands Journalist Be Freed
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili threatened yesterday to use force, if necessary, to free Georgian journalists Malkhaz Basilaya and David Tsotsoria from the Georgian television channel Mze, who were taken into custody by Abkhazian state security agents in the Gal area while covering the Russian presidential election in Abkhazia. Tensions have been high between Georgian and the breakaway republic since Kosovo declared its independence.
The journalists have been charged with illegally crossing the state border of Abkhazia. Abkhazian security agents are convinced that the men are actually spies who were trying to film Abkhazian military installations. In Georgia, they say only Vasilaya was taken captive.
Saakashvili gave an explosive speech in which he addresses Abkhazian President Sergey Bagapsh personally, saying that he would order Georgian Interior Ministry forces into Sukhumi to free the journalist, if the Abkhazians do not do so themselves. Bagapsh warned UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, who was visiting Sukhumi yesterday, that Abkhazia would no longer show leniency to violators of Abkhazian borders because “our gestures f goodwill were received inadequately in Tbilisi.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 28, 2008
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