An MP was killed on Thursday, December 19, in a shooting in the Parliament in Abkhazia, a separatist region of Georgia, during which one was also injured, announced the press service of the current Abkhazian separatist leader. , Badra Gounba.
“After being seriously injured, MP Vakhtang Golandzia died”said this source in a press release, adding that another deputy, Kan Kvartchia, was injured during this shooting in Sukhumi, the local capital. “MP Kvartchia suffers moderate injuries”continued the press service, without giving further details on what happened or on the perpetrators of the tragedy.
Abkhazia, a small region located between the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea, unilaterally declared its independence from Georgia in 1992 and was recognized by Russia, unlike almost the entire international community.
Protests against an economic agreement with Moscow
This region was recently shaken by demonstrations against an economic agreement with Moscow, signed at the end of October and allowing Russian companies to invest in Abkhazia. On November 15, protesters managed to enter Parliament and a presidential administration building in order to prevent the ratification of this agreement. In the process, the leader of Abkhazia, Aslan Bjania, resigned, as demanded by the demonstrators. Badra Gounba must act as interim before a next early election.
Critics of the agreement fear that it will open the way for Russians to acquire apartments in Abkhazia, particularly in the many seaside towns on the Black Sea coast. The sale of residential real estate to foreigners was banned in 1995 in Abkhazia, populated by around 240,000 inhabitants.
At the end of a brief war which saw its army enter Georgian territory in 2008, Moscow recognized the independence of two separatist regions bordering its territory, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia has since maintained a military presence there. Abkhazia unilaterally declared independence from Georgia upon the fall of the USSR and defended it during a war against Georgian forces in the early 1990s, with support from Moscow.
Source: Lemonde