Georgia has caught Ukrainian sailors, convicted for illegal crossing the cordon

Former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement party has announced the release of Ukrainian sailors convicted in Georgia of illegally crossing the state border. The information is disseminated by the deputy of the Georgian parliament from END Temur Janashiya.

“Ukrainian sailors and Misha Baturyn are free! Thank you to Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky, ”Janashiya wrote on his Facebook page.

According to Mtavari TV, the sailors were released on the basis of a pardon act signed by Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili. It is alleged that the convicts themselves did not apply to the head of state.

The dismissal took place on the day of the visit of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to Georgia. He arrived in Batumi today to attend an international conference on EU integration. It is known that Zelensky personally discussed the issue of release of Ukrainian citizens with his Georgian counterpart during a meeting in Kyiv on June 23.

ON THE TOPIC: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine summoned the Georgian attorney because of the sentence to Odessa sailors

In late November 2020, Georgian border guards detained a yacht bound for Turkey along the coast of Georgia. On board were citizens of Ukraine Volodymyr Dyachenko and Yuriy Khomych, as well as the owner of the vessel, a citizen of Georgia Mykhailo Baturyn. The latter worked in Saakashvili’s bodyguard when he was president of Georgia. The relatives of the yachtsmen and their lawyer claimed that the Ukrainians had not done anything illegal and that the reasons for their detention on the high seas were purely political.

Dyachenko, Khomych and Baturyn were accused of illegally crossing the Georgian border and sent to prison until the end of the investigation. On July 14, the Batumi City Court found them guilty and sentenced them to four years in prison. The Ukrainian side called the decision “unfair and inconsistent with the spirit of friendship and strategic partnership,” and Georgia’s temporary attorney was summoned to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Kyiv called on the Georgian side to reconsider the decision of the Batumi City Court and release Ukrainian citizens immediately.