Two OSCE Monitors Released
Two OSCE monitors were released by the authorities in breakaway South Ossetia two and a half hours after their detention on April 21.
Breakaway South Ossetia’s authorities said the two observers were detained “for illegal crossing of the South Ossetia’s border.”
OSCE said that two of its unarmed monitors – one Hungarian and one Turkish national – were detained “near” the village of Nikozi. The village, which is under the Georgian control, is located in an immediate vicinity of the breakaway region’s administrative border.
“I am relieved the two Military Monitoring Officers have been freed but their detention was wholly unacceptable and unnecessarily added to tensions in the region,” OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Greek Foreign Minister, Dora Bakoyannis, said in a statement. “It is crucial that all parties act constructively to contribute to security. This includes respecting the mandate, work and diplomatic immunity of the OSCE’s Military Monitoring Officers.”
“This latest incident underlines, once more, the importance of defining the framework that will allow the unhindered monitoring of the August conflict zone. The latest proposals of the Greek Chairmanship provide the framework for a monitoring operation which will be operationally sound and meaningful, as well as safe for the OSCE Officers.”
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