Three Georgian activists detained by the Abkhaz militia on March 1 told Abkhaz and Russian journalists in Sokhumi that they were sent to the Gali District of breakaway Abkhazia to discourage the local ethnic Georgian population from participating in the March 4 parliamentary elections, Abkhaz news agency Apsnipress reported.

Footage of the news conference was broadcasted on Abkhaz television. Georgian television  networks re-broadcast a portion of the footage on March 3.

19-year-old Iver Korshia; Levan Gochava and Koba Rigvava, both 20-years-old, are reportedly residents of Georgia’s Zugdidi district at the border of breakaway Abkhazia. Abkhaz militiamen arrested them on March 1 on accusations of “illegal crossing of the state border.”

The three men said that they are from the newly created Georgian non-governmental organization New Generation for United Georgia, which is based in Zugdidi.

On the news conference, they said their goal was to enter the Gali District and then return to the Georgian-controlled Shamgona village as if they were residents of the Gali District. A media briefing with a group of Georgian reporters was planned there in which the three activists planned to speak about oppressions against local Georgians in the Gali District.

But this scenario was thwarted when Abkhaz law enforcers detained the three activists while they were trying to enter into the Gali District from the village of Shamgona, according to the Apsnipress.

The arrest was followed by a half hour shootout between Georgian Interior Ministry forces (located in the Shamgona village) and Abkhaz militiamen. Footage of the shooting was broadcasted by the Georgian Public Broadcaster and Imedi television. TV crews from these two television stations were present at that time in the Shamgona village.

Georgian Interior Ministry officials claim that the Georgian TV crews were already in Shamgona to meet with Georgian activists from Gali.

On March 2 the Georgian Interior Ministry condemned the arrest of the three Georgians and demanded their immediate release.

Also on March 2, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said that “local Georgian and Abkhazian residents" were holding a protest rally in the village of Shamgona on March 1 “against the so-called parliamentary elections scheduled for March 4 and the separatist regime’s violent policy.” The Foreign Ministry also accused the Abkhaz side of opening fire on protesters.