The statement of the delegation of the Republic of South Ossetia at the international Geneva discussions on safety in Transcaucasia
About the missing citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia
After the August war in 2008, in the course of several weeks following the end of fighting in the zone neighboring to the frontier of the Republic of South Ossetia and Georgia, seven civilians-the citizens of South Ossetia -have been missing: there were children under age among them From the very beginning of the Geneva discussions at the meetings the delegation of the Republic of South Ossetia has been constantly raising a question about the fate of the missing persons. The facts specifying participation of the Georgian force structures in disappearance of the ossetian citizens have been elicited. The video data and also the testimonies are the evidence that the missing persons have been in jails on the territory of Georgia where they have undergone cruel treatment. At the request of the South-Ossetian side a group of the international experts has been monitoring the investigation of this cause. It is established that the Georgian side only had simulated the investigation. In a reality the representatives of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs had made everything not to admit revealing of the circumstances concerning disappearance of the citizens of South Ossetia, their stay in jails and their further fate. The South-Ossetian side, on the contrary, has taken all measures for searching the missing Georgian citizens. Besides all information about the persons being searched by the Georgian side as the missing ones during the fights on the territory of South Ossetia, twice - in August, 26, 2008 and in November, 16, 2008 the South-Ossetian side transferred the remains of the Georgian military men and other combatants, participated in attacking South Ossetia in August, 2008. It is necessary to notice that the Georgian representatives while transferring the exhumed bodies have refused to open the coffins for carrying out the identification and registration of the relevant reports. The relevant structures of South Ossetia at the burial place have carried out actions for identification of the bodies and their belonging to the citizenship of the RSO or the Russian military men, and refusal of the representatives of Georgia to open the coffins has been fixed by the corresponding report signed also by the Georgian side. On May, 11, 2011 at the meeting organized by the International Red Cross, one of the Georgian representatives has declared that eight of the total number of the exhumed remains, transferred to the Georgian side, are not identified and do not belong to the persons searched as the missing ones by the Georgian side. Thus he has expressed supposition that the non- identified remains could belong to the missing Ossetians and has suggested to take samples of DNA from relatives of the missing persons. All the above-stated, in view of the facts specifying participation of the Georgian force structures in disappearance of the Ossetians, testifies of abusing them; so the practice of brutal treatment, tortures, murders and the extrajudicial executions, carried out by the Georgian law-enforcement bodies, give the grounds for fears that the mentioned Ossetians could be killed, and the Georgian side can try to pass their bodies for the exhumed remains transferred to Georgia in 2008. Taking into account the humanitarian importance of the problem and the risks created for peaceful settlement by absence of any progress in search of the missing persons, the South-Ossetian side appeals to apply maximum of efforts for working in this direction, to renew the monitoring of the course of investigation by the international commission of experts and to affect the Georgian side to achieve clearness concerning the fate of the South-Ossetian citizens who have been missing after the end of war in 2008.
