A seriously ill teenager who lived in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region has died after Russian border guards prevented him and his family from entering Georgian-controlled territory for vital medical treatment.
Thirteen-year-old Levan Tsaava passed away yesterday after so-called Russian border guards demanded his family to prepare special documents approved by de-facto Abkhazia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) or pay a bribe of 500 GEL, in order to pass through the so-called border to Georgia, stated news website www.Apsny.ge.
It was reported that the family did not have the funds so were forced to return to obtain the required documents. Subsequently, Tsaava died. The teenager was from Bargebi village in Abkhazia’s Gali district.
News of the boy’s death was confirmed by Otar Gogokhia, head of the Representation Office of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region.
Today Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the death of Tsaava was a further demonstration of "the deplorable state of human rights in the occupied territories”.
In a statement, the Ministry said that despite repeated calls from Georgia and the international community, the Russian occupation forces had "continued their blatant violation of human rights, including the right to free movement, which in many cases ended with the death of ordinary citizens”.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia calls on the Russian Federation, as the power exercising effective control over the occupied regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia, to respect the fundamental human rights of the people living in the occupied territories and not to politicise humanitarian issues,” read the statement.
Tsaava had been suffering from a bowel problem but the issue became critical on May 4 and he needed urgent treatment, the website said.
His family tried to help him at home but without success, so they then took the 13-year-old to the local hospital in Gali. But, the Gali hospital was not equipped to deal with his problem as it does not have a pediatric intensive care unit. The family was advised by medical experts to transport the ill teenager to Zugdidi in Georgia, which is the nearest Georgian region to breakaway Gali.
As www.apsny.ge reported, the family attempted to pass the so-called border checkpoint between Georgia and breakaway Abkhazia at the Enguri bridge, however Russian border guards prevented the family from crossing. The guards demanded the family present special documents approved by the FSB or pay 500 GEL.
So the family returned to Gali, obtained the necessary documents then returned to the checkpoint. Again, they were denied to cross the so-called border, and guards then demanded separate paperwork for the sick child.
By this stage Tsaava was in a critical condition, so his family decided to transport him along a bypass road to Georgia via the Khurcha village, which is near the so-called administrative border of breakaway Abkhazia.
By this stage the health condition of the teenager had worsened and he died on the journey.
