Tskhinvali Claims Arms Cache Discovered in Java
An arms cache, including assault rifles and more than 3,500 bullets, has been found in a house in Java, the South Ossetian Information Committee reported on March 22.
According to the breakaway region’s committee for state security (KGB), the ammunition was brought to Java last year by people affiliated with the Tbilisi-backed South Ossetian provisional administration, led by Dimitri Sanakoev, and was aimed at “destabilizing the situation in the region and carrying out terrorist acts in South Ossetia.”
The breakaway region’s security service also said efforts were underway to uncover people cooperating with “the Sanakoev provisional administration.” It also said that no criminal charges would be brought against those who handed themselves in.
Earlier in March the secessionist authorities in South Ossetia said eight local residents of Java district were arrested in connection with the illegal possession of a large number of firearms.
The Georgian State Ministry for Reintegration said on March 14 that the arms possession charges were a pretext for “unprecedented punitive measures” and “repression” against dissent.
