A meeting of the working groups under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism took place in the Georgian village of Ergneti adjacent to the borderline South Ossetia, reported after meeting the head of the South Ossetian delegation Merab Chigoev. Acording to him, the agenda contained 13 questions.
"The main ones were: a review of incidents at the border during the year 2010, clarification of the fate of the missing persons, the return of criminals who committed serious crimes in South Ossetia and fled to Georgia. In addition, we discussed the cases of stolen livestock and crops from the border villages. We have also considered the problem of potable water supply from South Ossetia to Georgia and natural gas supply from Georgia to Leningor district of South Ossetia. Were raised other issues of mutual importance ", said Chigoev.
He noted that the Russian side raised the question of the fate of the Russian citizen Kazbek Dzukoev, who, according to the statements of the Georgian side, was sentenced to three years of imprisonment for illegally crossing the border with Georgia.
According to Chigoev, this meeting appeared to be more fruitful than the previous ones.
"The Georgian side stated that it continued investigation to determine the fate of our citizens and that it would report on the results during the owrking meetings or through the hotline. We also concluded that the detainees should be returned according to the principle "all for all". I said that if we wanted to achieve real results and close this topic, all citizens regardless of their number should be returned. The Georgian side did not support this proposition and agreed to return only those people, who were detained during August 7-8, 2008 ", said Chigoev.
According to him, the South Ossetian side was not satisfied with this offer, for it was not objective and not realistic. Chigoev explained that in this case, more than 24 citizens of South Ossetia would remain in Georgian prisons.
He said that at present, ten citizens of Georgia are detained in South Ossetia and are either under investigation or already convicted.
" In Georgia, there are 23 South Ossetians abducted prior to the war in 2008, and there are a few people, who have been kidnapped after August 2008. It would be more effective if the exchange took place on the principle "all for all". We will continue to raise this issue, including through the mediation of the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Tomas Hammarberg and at the Geneva discussions, " explained Chigoev.
In his opinion, quite a serious step has been taken on the drinking water supply from South Ossetia to Georgia and the supply of natural gas from Georgia to Leningor district.
"Earlier, the Georgian side categorically rejected resuming gas supply to Leningor district. We agreed that these questions were purely humanitarian and if they were not politicized a solution that would satisfy both sides and ease people's lives could be found", said Chigoev.
In addition, as Chigoev reported the Georgian side stating that it was ready to consider proposals for the exchange of people prosecuted for illegally crossing the border.
"They agreed to exchange them on the principle" all for all ". We will also consider this proposal", said Merab Chigoev.
He stressed that with regard to the return of our citizens, who were hiding in Georgia from criminal prosecution, the Georgian side was non-constructive, recognizing the presence of two (out of seven) people in Georgia, who had crossed the border with weapons.
"They are detained and awaiting trial for illegally crossing the border and possession of firearms. The Georgian side has not agreed with our arguments that here they have committed more serious crimes such as murder, group rape, robbery. We will continue to discuss this issue and, eventually, I hope we will achieve real results ", said the head of South Ossetian delegation.
Chigoev also recalled that the last meeting in this format took place more than a year ago.
"The reason for the suspension of our participation in these meetings was the fact that the Georgian side and the EU observers could not provide us with any information about our missing citizens. I am referring to the three young men who were abducted on Oct. 13, 2008 by law enforcement bodies of Georgia and two persons abducted 8 August 2008 ", he explained.
He noted that in order to assist those citizens who reside in the border areas and help solving their problems it was decided to resume participation of the South Ossetian side in the meetings.
Merab Chigoev reported that the next meeting iswas schduled for December 10.
The meeting was attented by representatives from Russia, South Ossetia and Georgia. The meeting was also attended by the OSCE Co-Chair in the Geneva discussions Ambassador Nurgaliyev and Head of EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia Hansjorg Haber.
