The 29-year-old Giorgi Kinoiani was detained at an Armenian-Georgian border crossing on September 3 while entering the country together with his parents. An Armenian court placed him under arrest pending a government decision on his extradition demanded by Russia.
According to RFE/RL’s Georgian Service, Kinoiani volunteered to fight in Ukraine following the 2022 Russian invasion of the country. In October 2024, a court in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk sentenced him in absentia to seven years in prison for “mercenary activities” there.
Armenia’s Justice Ministry did not comment on its decision to free Kinoiani which was announced on Thursday by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (HCA), a Vanadzor-based human rights group that has represented him since his arrest.
“This victory was made possible by the consistent work of the HCA human rights team and the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Armenian Interior Ministry,” the group said in a statement.
Kinoiani was apparently the first Georgian national arrested in Armenia in connection with the continuing war in Ukraine. Later in September, the Armenian authorities arrested another Georgian man, Vano Sabashvili, wanted by Russia. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the same court in 2023.
According to some media outlets, Sabashvili too had fought in Ukraine. His wife denied this on Friday, however.
“My husband had gone to Ukraine to look for his deceased friend,” she said. “He spent one month in Ukraine and engaged in humanitarian work during that period, helping women and children.”
The Justice Ministry has yet to make a decision on his extradition also strongly opposed by the HCA. The Western-funded group wants Armenia to declare Russian arrest warrants null and void on its territory and withdraw from relevant treaties signed with Russia and other ex-Soviet states.
The Armenian authorities previously arrested several Russian men who deserted their military units and/or refused to fight in Ukraine. They refused to extradite most of them, underlining tensions between Yerevan and Moscow.