Archpriest Davit Durglishvili of the Eparchy (Diocese) of Tskhinvali and Nikozi, who was detained yesterday by the Russian border guards in the vicinity of Upper Nikozi, a village in Gori Municipality adjacent to Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia, on charges of “illegal border crossing,” was released today.
Ministry for Reconciliation and Civic Equality confirmed to Civil.ge that the Cleric was handed over to Georgian authorities in Ergneti, a village south of Tskhinvali, the region’s capital.
Priest Davit Chigladze of the same parish explained earlier that Davit Durglishvili was detained while working on his own land plot near the administrative boundary line.
This was the second case when the Russian occupying border troops have detained a local cleric on charges of “illegal border crossing”: in June 2018, the Abbot of the Dirbi Monastery Ioane (Nikoloz Okhanashvili) was detained.
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