The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, Titus Corlatean and Claude Kern, have today expressed their deep concern at the illegal sentencing of Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze to twelve years imprisonment by a so-called court in Tskhinvali.

“This is an illegal sentence by an illegal court. We call for the immediate release of Mr Gakheladze. In this respect we wish to underscore Russia’s responsibility as the country in control over the Georgian region of South Ossetia, as established by the European Court of Human Rights in its judgment of 21 January 2021,” said the two co-rapporteurs in a statement.

They reiterated the full support of the Parliamentary Assembly for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia within its internationally-recognised borders.

Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison by the de facto Supreme Court of the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region on February 5.

Zaza Gakheladze, a local of Kvemo Chala village, Kaspi Municipality, was detained and wounded in his leg at Skhvilo Fortress on July 11. The occupied regime charged Gakheladze for an attempt to cross the so-called border illegally and for the attempted murder of a Russian soldier.