Tbilisi, 8 December. The Georgian State Security Service today detained at Tbilisi airport Tsikara Tjoshvili, a Georgian national who is believed to be an alleged fighter of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, the institute informed Efe.
The fighter may be sentenced to 10 to 17 years in prison for joining the ranks of a foreign terrorist organization and assisting in terrorist activities.
His arrest by the Security Service was made possible by evidence obtained during anti-terrorist operations.
Tokhosashvili left Georgia in 2015, traveled to the Middle East and joined the Islamic State.
The security service said the detainee was nicknamed “Amir Isa” and was “considered to be quite an influential figure among IS members.”
According to this source, Tokhoshvili “actively participated in terrorist activities in Iraq and Syria, and even led one of the units in the conflict zone for some time.”
The State Security Service states that the detainee had “connections with several influential IS leaders”.
Three years earlier, Tsiskara’s younger brother, Tsezar Tokhosashvili, known as “Amir al-Bara Shishani”, serving a sentence in Georgia, was arrested on similar charges.
Several dozen people, mostly ethnic Checheno-Kists, who live in the Pankisi Gorge, have left Georgia to fight for IS.
Active recruitment of mercenaries stopped a few years ago when the law against terrorist activities was tightened.
