The 46th meeting of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM), chaired by UN, with participation of the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM), took place in Gali on 31 May 2017.
At the meeting, the participants followed up several issues, amongst them the killing of a Georgian civilian a year ago at the former Khurcha crossing point. Abkhaz participants informed the IPRM that charges against the suspect have been dropped.
After one full year of intensive work and the handover of investigation materials at the IPRM meetings, this failure to bring justice was a great disappointment.
Discussions also covered recent cases of detentions at the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL), and ongoing borderisation which, in some cases, prevents access to agricultural land for the locals.
The closure of two controlled crossing points in March of this year, and its impact for local residents, was also discussed.
The next meeting of the Gali IPRM is scheduled for 28 June, 2017.