Georgian MP: Tbilisi, Tskhinvali Agree on Exchange of Captives

Georgian parliamentarian Guram Vakhtangashvili, who is elected in South Ossetia?s Georgian-populated Didi Liakhvi constituency, said that a special session of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC) reached an agreement over release of Lado Chalauri, the chief of police in the Eredvi village in the conflict zone.
 
?Along with Lado Chalauri, the Ossetians detained by the Georgian population of the conflict zone, will be released as well,? Guram Vakhtangashvili told Civil Georgia on January 24.

However, he said that this agreement will not apply to Oleg Pukhaev, an Ossetian who was arrested by the Georgian police on January 19. He is suspected of killing two persons last February. 

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Goga Khaindrava, who represents the Georgian side in the JCC, has not made any official comment about the results of the JCC session yet.
 
Lado Chalauri was kidnapped on January 20, allegedly by the relatives of Ossetian Oleg Pukhaev who was arrested by the Georgian police on January 19. In response, reportedly the relatives and co-villagers of Lado Chalauri detained 12 Ossetians, including Deputy Special Affairs Minister of breakaway South Ossetia Makhar Gasiyev. However, Gasiyev was released late on the same day.