11 April 2009, 14:00
Elderly woman from Georgia asks Russia's political asylum
At the check point "Nizhni Zaramag", located on the border of Russia with South Ossetia, frontier guards of the Frontier Administration (FA) of Russian FSB for the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania were addressed by a woman-citizen of Georgia, 72, a native of the Gori District, who applied for political asylum.
The reason of her decision was a new aggravation of the situation in Georgia, caused by the opposition's intention to urge President Saakashvili to resign. With this aggravation, the criminal situation in the district became much worse.
The woman said that in February 2009, unidentified persons in masks rushed into her house, beat her and took away all her savings that she had gathered for a surgery in the sum of 1500 US dollars, as the "Kavkaz-Press" Agency reports.
Now, the Department of the Russian Federal Migration Service for North Ossetia is considering her petition. The FA's press service has noted that this is already the ninth case during almost four months this year, when citizens of Georgia apply for political asylum in Russia. The "GHN" Agency reports that similar requests were earlier made by six men and three women.
