12:26, 1 December 2005

Police officer killed in Abkhazia

The body of an Abkhaz police officer, Fridon Jgerenaia, was found in the Gal district of Abkhazia. This is what the nation's Internal Affairs Minister Otar Khetsia told Caucasian Knot's correspondent. According to him, Mr Jgerenaia's body with marks of violent death was found by a local resident in the immediate vicinity of the Georgian-Abkhaz border in Shamgona, Gal district. Mr Jgerenaia disappeared on 7 November when going home from work.

Mr Khetsia pins the blame for the killing on Georgian armed groups that have lately intensified their activities in the borderline Gal district, according to him. The minister does not rule out that Mr Jgerenaia was killed for being a Georgian and working with the Abkhaz police.

The minister disproved statements by some Georgian media that Mr Jgerenaia had been especially cruel to the Georgian population and extorted money from residents of the Lower zone of the Gal district.

"All that is lies, on the contrary, Jgerenaia was known for his mild temper," Mr Otar Khetsia said.

Author: Anzhela Kuchuberiya, CK correspondent