Tbilisi and Tskhinvali Compete Each Other in Kidnapping People

Mari Otarashvili

At Geneva Negotiations de-fact government of South Ossetia requests release of Genadi Pliev and Georgian delegation requests release of Malkhaz Akhvlediani. Pliev is still a hostage of the MIA of Georgia; Akhvlediani is in Tskhinvali prison. Georgian and Ossetian delegations in Geneva do not compromise like stubborn goats; and meanwhile a lot of people are being kidnapped.

“Geneva discussions is a cage where we were cheated in,” said representative of Kokoity in the post-conflict regulations Boris Chochiev. According to him, separatist South Ossetia finds Geneva discussions nonsense and states that the next round of the meeting scheduled on March 30 might be the last one. Chochiev claims the negotiations are useless because they cannot resolve the problem of missing Ossetian hostages. According to him, within the last month one more person was kidnapped by Georgian MIA – Genadi Pliev.

“We raised the question of missing people during Geneva discussion. We met representatives of the International Red Cross Committee but Georgian side does not provide any information about them. By the way, representative of the Council of Europe Hansiorg Habber stated that Genadi Pliev, kidnapped by Georgian law enforcement officers, did not have weapon with him and turned up on Georgian territory quite by chance. The head of the Georgian delegation stated that Pliev represents law enforcement bodies of South Ossetia and he shall be judged… We rely on Tomas Hammarberg who raised question of sending independent experts to investigate the issue of missing people. Besides that, citizens of South Ossetia are in Georgian prisons for life terms,” said Boris Chochiev.

Head of analytic department of the MIA of Georgia Shota Utiashvili reported to us that Genadi Pliev was personal body guard of Kokoity and, Georgia is going to judge him instead releasing.

Shota Utiashvili: “Genadi Pliev was member of Kokoity’s security guard. He was on the territory controlled by Georgian side and we detained him.”

Georgian side detains ethnic Ossetian people based on various accusations and it often ends in their disappearance. In this direction, de-facto law enforcement officers of South Ossetia also do many violations. They detain Georgian people very often under well-known accusation ‘illegal crossing of South Ossetian border.”

After separatists measured the borders of their “republic”, more and more people are detained on both sides. It is not estimated where the de-facto border between Georgian controlled territories and Tskhinvali region is; and which villages are on Ossetian side.

“Of course, people should be warned which territories they are allowed to move. Competent people should explain to the people living close to the border where they can move. However, it is difficult to tell a peasant – the border is now running through your garden where you worked yesterday and you should not go there now. Anyway, it is necessary to explain to locals,” said Mamuka Areshidze, expert in the Caucasian issues.

“Everybody knows where the de-facto border runs through and we do not detain anybody based on false accusations,” the separatists claim.

In accordance to the agreement achieved during Geneva Negotiations, people shall not be detained. Despite that, people are still detained because of “illegal crossing of border.” For that reason, separatists detained Malkhaz Akhvlediani on January 31 near Tskhinvali and he is still in Tsikhinvali prison.

“Akhvlediani is accused for illegal crossing of border of South Ossetia and Georgia. Investigative bodies are investigating the fact,” said de-facto investigative bodies.

MIA of Georgia requests Tskhinvali authority to release Malkhaz Akhvlediani detained on January 31. The MIA spread special statement. “Despite the agreements were achieved during the Geneva Negotiations and within the incident prevention and reaction mechanisms, which aimed release of the detained citizens who had accidentally crossed the administrative border, Ossetian side still refuses to release Malkhaz Akhvlediani. It contradicts the agreement the parties have agreed in Geneva. The MIA of Georgia demands prompt release of Malkhaz Akhvlediani from arbitrary detention.”

Paata Zakareishvili, conflict scientist: “Maybe Genadi Pliev really was member of Kokoity’s security guard and officer of the Ossetian Special Forces, but I know that he was kidnapped in a very complicated situation. The fact shall be investigated impartially. Georgian side claims this person travelled in the territory controlled by the Georgian side with gun. By the way, representatives of the EU who were first international observers to travel to South Ossetia have asked many questions about this fact. And the most important issue is that they neither confirmed nor denied the accusation of the Georgian side against Pliev. It causes serious doubts. In fact, they relied on the version spread by Georgian side about the detention of Pliev.”

Paata Zakareishvili hopes after arrival of the CoE Commissionaire Thomas Hammarberg similar issues will be cleared up. As for detention of Malkhaz Akhvlediani and accusations against him, Zakareishvili thinks problem of detaining people for illegal crossing of the de-facto border shall be settled at Geneva Negotiations.