Difficulties in bringing Lavan Kojiashvili’s body to Israel, the deputy mayor of Ashdod, Eli Nacht, updated today (Saturday), adding that Lavan’s parents, Natan and Marina, identified the body. “The situation there is catastrophic, the morgues are full, there were about five hundred bodies. The whole family will return to Israel, the question is when,” he stressed.
We hope they will be allowed to leave the country with the body – only transport planes are allowed to leave now. We are working in front of Netiv head Neta Briskin-Peleg who is assisting and waiting for approval. “Communication with Kazakhstan is difficult – they have dropped the internet and there is no access to WhatsApp, only satellite phones.”
The Foreign Ministry announced that 22-year-old Kojiashvili was killed last night by gunfire in the Kazakh city of Almaty, as part of the country’s violent riots. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Department of Israelis Abroad in the Consular Division and the Israeli Embassy in Kazakhstan, liaises with his parents who are in Kazakhstan and his family in Israel, and assists in transferring the body for burial in Israel.
Yesterday, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement stating that they are closely following what is happening in Kazakhstan and hope for calm and restoration of order. “The Israeli Embassy in Nor-Sultan and the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Jerusalem are in direct contact with Israeli citizens in the country in order to assist them at this time. The good and strong relationship between the State of Israel and the Republic of Kazakhstan is based on warm relations At Central Asia and the founder of the CICA Forum for Peace, Security and Regional Stability, we look forward to restoring stability and calm in Kazakhstan soon. ”