De facto president of Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali becomes ‘honorary citizen’ of occupied Abkhazia
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, May 29
De facto President of Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region Anatoly Bibilov has been granted the status of an “honorary citizen” of another Russian-occupied Abkhazia (South Ossetia) region.
Bibilov received the status from de facto President of Abkhazia Raul Khajimba for his “special merit in development of Abkhazian-Ossetian ties, and for his contribution for regional peace and stability.”
Khajimba granted the status to Bibilov several months before the so-called presidential elections in Abkhazia.
The opposition in Abkhazia stopped protests in mid-May as an agreement was reached with the de facto government regarding the date of the so-called presidential elections.
The parties agreed that the ‘elections’ will take place on August 26, 2019, instead of the previously scheduled date of July 21.
The opposition demanded the postponement of the ‘elections’ to October, as their leader Aslan Bzhania was allegedly poisoned in April.
The opposition claimed that traces of heavy metals of aluminium and mercury were found in Bzhania’s blood.
The War in Abkhazia from 1992 to 1993 was fought between Georgian government forces for the most part, and Abkhaz separatist forces, Russian armed forces and North Caucasian militants. The separatists received support from thousands of North Caucasus and Cossack militants and from the Russian forces stationed in and near Abkhazia.
Between 13,000 to 20,000 ethnic Georgians and approximately 3,000 Abkhaz have been reported killed, over 250,000 Georgians became internally displaced or refugees and about 2,000 are considered missing.
The Russia-Georgia 2008 War was a war between Georgia, Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The war displaced 192,000 people and while many returned to their homes after the war, 20,272 people, mostly ethnic Georgians, remain displaced.
Only Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria have recognized the regions as independent states since the 2008 war. The rest of the international community says that the regions are occupied by Russia.
