S.Ossetian Official: Tskhinvali, Tbilisi Exchange Detainees

Interior Minister of breakaway South Ossetian Mikhail Mindzaev denied on Wednesday that the South Ossetian side detained Georgian civilians on December 6, but confirmed that four Georgian policemen were arrested for possessing drugs, the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee reported.

?None of the civilian have been detained by us in the conflict zone. We have only arrested four Georgian policemen for possessing drugs. After negotiations with the representatives of the law enforcement agencies of Georgia and with mediation by the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, we have agreed to exchange these policemen for four employees of the Leningori district administration in order to defuse tensions,? Mikhail Mindzaev said.

The Georgian police arrested on December 6 chief of the breakaway South Ossetia?s Akhalgori, which in South Ossetia is known as Leningori, district administration and three other officials from the same administration. But the Georgian side did not specify the reasons behind this arrest.

According to the Georgian side up to 20 men, including four Georgian policemen, were detained by the South Ossetian side on December 6 after the Georgian Military Police arrested South Ossetian police official Viacheslav Kudziev on December 5. Georgian policemen and civilians were released overnight on December 7, Georgian media sources reported.

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