For South Ossetia it is important that the issues related to the fate of missing citizens of South Ossetia receive the same attention as cases of missing Georgian citizens, stated the Commissioner for Human Rights David Sanakoev.
According to him, the parents of missing citizens of the Republic continued their efforts to attract attention to the problem.
"They requested the organizations co-chairing the Geneva discussions and the media to help solving this humanitarian issue of the missing people", said Sanakoev.
He noted that the relatives of missing persons, human rights organizations, authorities and the delegation of the Republic of South Ossetia to the Geneva discussions have repeatedly raised the issue of missing persons.
"Many times we provided the materials we have at our disposal both to the Georgian side and all those who had the capacity to somehow influence the clarification of the fate of these citizens and solve the problem. For a few months, an expert group assigned by the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Tomas Hammarberg has been working on both sides upon the agreement of the respective authorities. This work resulted in a report, which, inter alia, reflected the information provided by the South Ossetian side. In particular, the report states that the Georgian law enforcement bodies were involved in the disappearance of the citizens of South Ossetia Khugaev, Khachirov and Pliev on 13 October 2008, and the OSCE monitors knew this fact. On October 14, the OSCE had received information that the Georgian security forces detained three Ossetians ", said Sanakoev.
He recalled that at the Geneva discussions, the South Ossetian side provided the same information to Georgian and international human rights organizations.
"At the Geneva discussions, the delegation of South Ossetia provided a detailed analysis of the report, the materials that prove the fact that these citizens were located at the Georgian side were presented", said Sanakoyev. "The report also contains recommendations on the actions that the sides should take to search for the missing. However, so far, Georgia has not taken them as a guideline for action. International structures dealing with these issues did not pay due attention to this report.
Sanakoev once again drew attention to the fact that when abducted, one of the young people was under the age of 16.
"Therefore, it is important that representatives of international human rights organizations that monitor the situation in South Ossetia and Georgia, took an active stand on this issue and got engaged in the settlement of this problem", he said.
David Sanakoev noted that the issue of missing persons was a humanitarian one, and it was painful especially for the families of the missing. Hence, every effort should be made to clarify and the fate of missing persons.
