Exchange of citizens of South Ossetia, kept in prisons of Georgia, and the Georgian citizens, kept in prisons of South Ossetia, has taken place today at the state border of the Republic of South Ossetia and Georgia. South Ossetian side has transferred 12 people, as many as the Georgian side. 10 of them are citizens of South Ossetia and Russia, and three of them - have only the Russian citizenship- they are the border facility builders, who accidentally found themselves in the Georgian territory and were detained there.
The Georgian law enforcement agencies had also claims against two of the persons detained by the South Ossetian law enforcement bodies. The first thing done by one of the released Ossetians, a 33-year-old resident of Vladikavkaz David Khabalov after crossing the border – he kissed his native Ossetian land. He spent three and a half years in the Georgian jails. "In August 2008 I arrived in Tbilisi to attend the funeral of my aunt - he said IA" Res." - Because of the war I could not come back in time. August, 21 I was detained. Not any concrete charges were brought against me, they only said: "So it is necessary for the Motherland". "Leila Khurieva, who spent five years in the Georgian jails, up to now did not know that the South Ossetian authorities had been struggling for her destiny and that her name had already been included into the list for release. Among the citizens of South Ossetia there are men and women, people of different nationalities - Ossetians, Armenians, Georgians, and two citizens of Dagestan. Georgia has been generally transferred citizens of the Georgian origin, except for one Ossetian - resident and citizen of Georgia. In Tskhinval, the liberated were being waited by their relatives who greeted them with open arms and hot tears in their eyes. All the liberated were brought to the office of the Plenipotentiary the RSO President on post-conflict settlement Boris Chochiev. There, Boris Chochiev and his Deputy Merab Chigoev have talked to them; they wished them a happy New Year and congratulated them on the occasion of returning home. Taking into account that most of them fell into the hands of law enforcement bodies of Georgia as a result of imprudent move to Georgia, they warned them in the future to be more cautious and aware of the fact of the state border between the two countries. "We have done the God-pleasing work and a good gift for our fellow citizens, we have released today, and it's nice. But it`s most distressingly that at present about 20 citizens of South Ossetia are in places of imprisonment in Georgia; even more regrettable is the fact that we still know nothing about the fate of seven of our citizens, missing since 2008 and after that,"-Merab Chigoev has underlined.
He has stressed that South Ossetia will follow this course within the framework of the Geneva talks and the MPRI as long as the fate of the missing persons have been clarified and until all the South Ossetian citizensб kept in places of detention in Georgia, have been released.
