Archive - 14/5/2010

South Ossetia has handed over to EUMM representatives three Georgian citizens detained 4 September 2009 for illegal border-crossing and unauthorized wood-cutting in Leningor district of South Ossetia. On 13 May, at the trial, the Georgian citizens, residents of Tvaurebi village, Kaspi district of Georgia, Levan Biganashvili, 1986, Aleko Didebashvili, 1985, Merab Tvauri, 1974, were convicted under Art 322, p.2, RF CC (illegal crossing of the state border). With the detention term already served, during which the investigation was ongoing, the Georgian citizens were released from the courtroom.

South Ossetia is determined to continue open and positive dialogue and attached significant importance to Geneva discussions, stated the president of the Republic of South Ossetia Eduard KOkoity at the meeting with the Co-Chairs of Geneva discussions in Tskhinval. "We are certainly disappointed with the statements of Georgian officials that the consider the discussions as a process not as an instrument to defuse tensions. It undermines the image of the discussions, since today, this is the only existing mechanism which allows implementation of provisions set forth in Sarkozy-Medvedev agreement", said Kokoity. Taking about the necessity to sign a bilateral agreement between South Ossetia and Georgia, the president emphasized that the Republic needs guarantees of non-reoccurrence of the August 2008 events.

The release of the three Georgian citizens and almost completed mission of the Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Tomas Hammarberg on finding out the fate of the missing South Ossetians, gives the hope for resumption of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM), stated the EU Envoy Pierre Morel while visiting Tskhinval with the delegation of the Geneva discussions' Co-Chairs.
The delegation arrived in South Ossetia to conduct preparatory consultations for the forthcoming 11th round of Geneva discussions to take place 7-8 June 2010. Ambassador Morel underlined that the resumption of the IPRM was an important component of the Co-Chair's work, since the Mechanism was created within the frames of Geneva discussions.