S.Ossetia Claims Georgia Arrested Four

Authorities in breakaway South Ossetia said four Ossetian men were detained by the Georgian side late on July 20, en route from Gori to Tskhinvali.

The four men were “kidnapped” by Georgian law enforcement officers in response to the detention of a Georgian man, suspected of murder, by the South Ossetian militia, the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee has claimed.

Mamuka Kurashvili, a Georgian Ministry of Defense official in charge of overseeing peacekeeping operations in the conflict zones, told Imedi radio station that he was not aware of the detention of Ossetian men, but added that if the report were confirmed, the arrest would have been made on the basis of evidence of criminal wrong-doing. He rejected any linkage with the earlier detention of the Georgian man.