Tbilisi Claims Tskhinvali Pressures Dissenters
Tbilisi has condemned, what it called, “unprecedented punitive measures” and “repression” carried out by secessionist authorities in South Ossetia against those with dissenting opinion.
The Georgian State Ministry for Reintegration Issues said in a statement on March 14 that “dozens” of residents of the Java district in the breakaway region had been arrested since March 6.
“The purpose of these measures is to force local residence to accept the contemptibility of the de factor regime through blackmail, pressure and intimidation,” the statement reads. “These measures demonstrate once again the criminal and irresponsible nature of the Tskhinvali de facto regime.”
The Tbilisi-backed South Ossetian provisional administration, led by Dimitri Sanakoev, has also alleged recently that the secessionist authorities had targeted Java residents protesting against South Ossetian secessionist leader Eduard Kokoity.
The South Ossetian Press and Information Committee has confirmed the arrest of eight Java residents suspected of the illegal possession of firearms. The South Ossetian side has claimed that local law enforcement officers recovered a large number of arms and ammunition, including anti-tank grenades, from the homes of those arrested.
