© Andrej Verzola

Notes on the Occupation

Andrej Verzola

2024 — Georgia

About this series

In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia, resulting in the country losing control over two of its regions. One of these regions is now known as South Ossetia, and its “border” is located just about seventy kilometers from Georgia’s capital. The line of contact between Georgia and South Ossetia stretches approximately four hundred kilometers, with approximately ten thousand people living in its immediate vicinity on the Georgian-controlled side. The population of this so-called “Zone of Fear” mostly consists of farmers living in small, semi-abandoned villages. Those living near the line of occupation suffer from systematic expansion carried out by Russian border troops, as a result of which locals lose access to their pastures, fields, water or forests. More alarming still is that since 2008, there have been around three and a half thousand registered cases of illegal detention and imprisonment of Georgian citizens by Russian and South Ossetian authorities within South Ossetia. My project tells the stories of some of these individuals who were detained by Russian border guards near the line of occupation and were subsequently held in detention centers and prisons in Tskhinvali.
I spent nearly a year and a half traveling through regions adjacent to the line of occupation and talking to people for whom detentions by Russian border troops have become part of daily life. Some were arrested only once, others more than three times; one of my protagonists was recently captured for the fifth time and still remains in custody. For each of my subjects, life has been divided into “before” and “after” the arrest: a trip to a once-familiar pasture or a visit to a grave of a loved one could lead to a new detention and prison term.

© Andrej Verzola
© Andrej Verzola
© Andrej Verzola
© Andrej Verzola
© Andrej Verzola
© Andrej Verzola
© Andrej Verzola
© Andrej Verzola
© Andrej Verzola

Photographer: Andrej Verzola
Nationality: Russian / Italian
Based in: Tbilisi, Georgia / Berlin, Germany
Instagram: @fiszandchips