Murder of Tamaz Ginturi

Tamaz Ginturi (aged 58) and Levan Dotiashvili (aged 33) were both residents of Kirbali, a village ~500m from the internationally unrecognized South Ossetian-Georgian border. Ginturi was a veteran of the Russo-Georgian War as a member of the Karaleti Special Forces. ==Events==

The border between South Ossetia and Georgia is manned jointly by the FSB and the South Ossetian State Security Committee (KGB) and have engaged in the practice of "creeping occupation" or "creeping annexation", where, periodically, Russian and South Ossetian forces move the border fence marking the boundary of South Ossetia deeper into Georgian territory a couple dozen meters at a time. Immediately after the murder of Ginturi and kidnapping of Dotiashvili, the State Security Service of Georgia (SUS) convened a meeting with Russian representatives and the EU Monitoring Mission. Additionally, South Ossetian officials denied any deaths, and stated that one suspect was taken to a hospital in Georgia, which never happened, and that both Ginturi and Dotiashvili were "radical representatives" of Mikheil Saakashvili and that the pair who sought to destroy the South Ossetian border and state and called on the Georgian government to recognize South Ossetia as independent to prevent further border incidents. Ginturi's body was recovered on the same day as his death by local Georgian police and was given a funeral with full military honors on November 11 which was attended by his relatives, friends, fellow villagers, politicians, and human rights activists. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili attended the funeral and met with Ginturi's family in their home to offer condolences. ==Accounts==

Dotiashvili Ginturi and Dotiashvili crossed the border without incident and paid respects at the local cemetery. When they found the door to the church locked, Ginturi attempted to pry it open with an ax to light a candle for their loved ones. The pair then heard a warning shot and ran back to their car in an effort to leave, only for Ginturi to be shot in the back and chest as Russian border guards had surrounded the pair unbeknownst to them. Dotiashvili was detained. Dotiashvili then was made to call Georgian emergency services to pick up Ginturi's body before being taken to a prison in Tskhinvali. Russia Ginturi and Dotiashvili crossed the border without incident and paid respects at the local cemetery. When they found the door to the church locked, Ginturi attempted to pry it open with an ax. Then a Russian border guard approached the pair and ordered them to stop. Ginturi then threatened the guard who, in turn, fired a warning shot. When Ginturi ignored the warning, he was killed and Dotiashvili was arrested and sent to a prison in Tskhinvali. South Ossetia Ginturi and Dotiashvili, agents of the former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, attempted to drunkenly cross the border with an ax on a mission to destroy border installations, and were repelled after a short fire fight by Russian border guards, with one of the two being seriously wounded and taken to a Georgian hospital. ==Reactions==

• Girchi — More Freedom chairman Zurab Japaridze criticized the ruling Georgian Dream party that "[The murder] is the result of Georgian Dream's policy of supposedly having peace in the country. We can all see what kind of peace there is in reality. In any case, as long as we are weak, as long as our policy is to not antagonize Russia and to be on our knees, this will continue as usual." • Georgian Dream leader Mamuka Mdinaradze denounced efforts by the opposition to politicize the incident stating that “Today, there are attempts to exploit this tragedy by those who left us with this burdensome legacy, those who led the Georgian military into war (Mikhail Saakashvili)." • Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili called the murder “a brutal attack on Georgian statehood.” ==See also==