Tzvi Arieli, a former instructor at Ukraine’s National Guard, on Oct. 27 published alleged photographic evidence of the kidnapping of Geogriy Rubashvili, an associate of ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, on Oct. 21.
Rubashvili, Saakashvili’s former security guard; Saakashvili’s friend David Makishvili, who fought against Russian-separatist troops in the Donbas and trained Ukraine’s National Guard, and Saakashvili’s former driver Mikhail Abzianidze say they were kidnapped in Kyiv, beaten, and then illegally transported to Georgia by Ukrainian authorities on Oct. 21. The authorities deny accusations of wrongdoing.
Saakashvili believes the alleged kidnapping to be a political vendetta by the authorities against him amid ongoing protests near the Verkhovna Rada that he co-organized. The State Migration Service and Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said on Oct. 24 that Saakashvili and 20 more Georgians can also be deported.
The photos published by Arieli show men in camouflage in front of a white car on Kyiv’s Horodetsky Street, where Rubashvili says he was kidnapped.
Arieli, an acquaintance of Makishvili, said the photos he published had been taken by a witness of the alleged kidnapping. He said he would not give the witness’s name for security reasons.
“I was waiting for a taxi,” the witness said, as cited by Arieli. “Suddenly a van stopped, and there were eight camouflaged and masked fighters and two plainclothes people. Within a few seconds they seized some person in civilian clothes.”
An alleged photo of the kidnapping of Geogriy Rubashvili, an associate of ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The State Migration Service said on Oct. 21 it had canceled the residence permits of two of the Georgians, while the third one had been in Ukraine illegally. State Migration Service spokesman Serhiy Hunko said he could not comment on the grounds for the annulment of the residence permits.
The three Georgians say all of them had valid residence permits.
Hunko told the Kyiv Post that the three Georgians had been ordered by the State Migration Service to leave Ukraine voluntarily, and there was no court warrant for their forced deportation by the Ukrainian authorities. Under Ukrainian law, a person can only be deported by force if there is a court warrant for this.
Abzianidze’s residence permit was stamped by an employee of the State Migration Service when he was illegally expelled from the country, while the two others did not have documents with them, Pavlo Bogomazov, the Georgians’ lawyer, told the Kyiv Post. The stamp contained a three-year ban on travel to Ukraine, he added.
The State Migration Service has so far failed to provide any documents on the grounds for the cancellation of the Georgians’ residence permits, their expulsion or the travel ban, Bogomazov added.
Bogomazov said he had asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to start a criminal case into the alleged kidnapping but it had not reacted in any way so far.
Arieli said on Oct. 24, citing his sources, that the three Georgians had been kidnapped by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the National Guard, the Border Guard and Ukraerorukh, Ukraine’s air navigation agency.
The SBU denied participation in the event, while the Border Guard and Ukraerorukh declined to comment.
National Guard spokesman Vadym Holub told the Kyiv Post that “the National Guard is not involved in issues of deportation,” but refused to say whether National Guard members were present when the deportation took place and whether a National Guard plane had been used.
Saakashvili said on Oct. 23 he believed the order to deport the three Georgians had been given by President Petro Poroshenko to National Guard Chief Yuriy Allerov. He added that riot police had also participated in their deportation.
The Presidential Administration and the National Police said they could not comment.
Arieli also said the Georgians had been transported by an An-74 plane on flight UR84170 from Kyiv’s Zhulyany Airport to Tbilisi. He added that the plane had likely been serviced by a Russian dispatcher, and its transponder had been turned off.
Yuriy Kasyanov, a volunteer helping the Ukrainian army, said on Oct. 24 that, according to his sources, the plane had flown over Russian territory with the Kremlin’s permission and had been accompanied by Russian warplanes.
Arieli said, however, that the plane likely flew over the Black Sea or Turkey.
Makishvili, Rubashvili and Abzianidze were kidnapped on 158 Antonovych Street at between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m, on 4 Horodetsky Street at between 3-30 p.m. and 4 p.m. and on 7v Keramychesky Sidestreet at between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., respectively, Makishvili told the Kyiv Post.
An alleged photo of the kidnapping of Geogriy Rubashvili, an associate of ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
