Two Held over S.Ossetian ‘Illegal Detentions’

Georgian police have arrested two men suspected in the illegal detention of Georgian citizens in the South Ossetian conflict zone, the Interior Ministry said on August 29.

Shota Khizanishvili, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said Tariel Khachirov and Vitaly Valiev, the arrested suspects, were among a group who had illegally detained TV crews from Rustavi 2 and Mze television stations and three other people, including a 13 year old boy, on August 27 and 26, respectively. All were released on August 27.

Both Khachirov and Valiev are servicemen in the Russian North Ossetian peacekeeping battalion stationed in the conflict zone.

Meanwhile, the Russian command of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in the conflict zone, reported that three of its peacekeepers had been detained early on August 29; one of them, the statement said, was later released.

Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said on August 27: “I guarantee that those behind [both of] these detentions will be punished.”

South Ossetian secessionist authorities said the Georgian citizens had been arrested as they hadn’t had permission from Tskhinvali to enter the unrecognized republic.

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