On 25 April 2017, the 45th meeting of the joint Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) was held in Gali town under the aegis of the United Nations, with the participation of Georgian, Russian, Abkhaz and EUMM (European Union Monitoring Mission) representatives. As in the previous meetings, the discussion was business-like, and the participants also engaged in bilateral consultations in the margins of the meeting.
Security-related issues and prevention of incidents were prominently featured on the agenda. Participants followed up certain issues discussed at the previous meetings, including the May 2016 murder case. Additional information was provided on the cases of alleged trafficking of radioactive materials in the previous years, which had been previously discussed.
Participants also discussed the crossings of schoolchildren and the issues essential for the daily lives of the local population. The issues related to detentions in the vicinity of the line of control were discussed. Appeals were reiterated to look into the crossing-related detentions from the humanitarian point of view.
One recent double-murder case in the Gali district was raised for the discussion, and according to the findings of the preliminary investigation, it had been linked to domestic homicide. The need to find and bring the suspected perpetrator to justice was emphasized; and in this context, close cooperation between the relevant law enforcement agencies on this and other cases was encouraged.
The importance and need for the information exchange on planned sensitive activities for confidence-building purposes was once again highlighted.
It was agreed to hold the next meeting on 31 May 2017.