In a speech during a debate in the European Parliament, Member of the European Parliament Sven Mikser called on the European Council to collaborate with Georgian authorities in compiling a list of individuals responsible for human rights violations. He urged the imposition of effective targeted sanctions against those individuals.

“On the eve of his country receiving the EU candidate status, a Georgian citizen Tamaz Ginturi was killed by the Russian occupying forces on the administrative Boundary Line between the Georgian-controlled territory and the Russian occupied Tskhinvali region. While the killing is a particularly brutal and violent crime committed by the occupants, it was far from an isolated incident. Since Russia launched its aggression against Georgia and since passed its territory in 2008, there has been a constant stream of similar incidents. Georgian citizens have been harassed, and human rights have been violated. The freedom of movement has been illegally restricted. Simultaneously the Russian occupation forces are moving on with a creeping occupation, borderization and passportization.

Today, the EU Monitoring Mission is the only permanent international representative that operates near the administrative Boundary Line, monitoring the situation on the ground. It is extremely important that we provide the EUMM with adequate resources, that are needed for it to carry out its mission.

The European Union has always supported and will support Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, but while we demand the end to the occupation and the restoration of Georgia’s territorial integrity, we should also do more to hold those perpetrators of the human rights violations accountable.

We call on the European Council to put together, on consultations with the Georgian authorities, a list of individuals responsible for the human rights violations and to impose effective targeted sanctions against them,” Sven Mikser stated.

The European Parliament prepared a resolution addressing the murder of Tamaz Ginturi by Russian occupation forces and condemning the illegal abduction of Levan Dotiashvili.