The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia said a group of offenders from Russian-occupied Abkhazia had been convicted by court in absentia for several crimes committed between 1999 - 2004.

“The evidence submitted to the court confirmed that the defendants attempted to kill citizens using firearms in the territories of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and Zugdidi Municipality in the period from 1999 to 2004. Also, the defendants robbed citizens of their personal belongings and valuables. In addition, the members of the so-called “Gagra group” illegally deprived various persons of liberty in the territory of the Gali municipality by using firearms, and took them hostage, after which they demanded a ransom from the family members for their release.

All three of the persons were sentenced to 12 years in prison, which was finally determined at 9 years on the basis of the Amnesty Law.

All of them are included in the “Otkhozoria-Tatunashvili list” of persons accused and convicted of murder, kidnapping, torture and inhuman treatment of Georgian citizens in the occupied territories”, - reads the statement.

The Otkhozoria-Tatunashvili list was compiled by the Georgian government and includes 33 persons, mostly Abkhaz and South Ossetian militants, convicted or charged with grave crimes committed against ethnic Georgians in the occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region since the early 1990s.