The South Ossetian party at a meeting in Geneva raised the issue of extending the mandate for the work of an independent expert from the OSCE, Dusan Ignatovich, on ithe ssues of South Ossetian citizens who went missing in August 2008, said presidential plenipotentiary for post-conflict settlement Murat Dzhioev, head of the South Ossetian delegation, said at a briefing in Tskhinval International discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia.
The next round was held in Geneva on October 8-9. It was attended by delegations of the Republic of South Ossetia, the Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia, the Russian Federation, the United States, as well as representatives of the EU, UN and OSCE.
“At the meeting in Geneva, we have noted that, first of all, we are waiting for the continuation of the work of Ignatovich (an independent expert from the OSCE - ed.), Which deals with the search for our citizens. In this we were immediately supported by the American delegation, which also hopes to continue the mandate of the work of the independent expert. And this largely depends on the Georgian party,” the envoy said.
He noted that the South Ossetian side stated that Georgia was responsible for the fate of young people - citizens of South Ossetia, listed to be missing after August 2008.
“We said that our missing citizens, at least five of them, were definitely in the hands of the Georgian security forces, and finding out their fate is the responsibility of Georgia,” the ambassador said.
Over 130 citizens of South Ossetia are reported missing during the years of Georgian aggression from 1989 to 2008 - seven people went missing in 2008. The youngest among the missing in August 2008 was Alan Khugaev, who at that time was 17 years old.
