The incident with Tamaz Goloev is clear evidence that Georgia has been and remains dangerous and hostile to South Ossetia and its citizens, the Republic's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, commenting on the detention of the Leningor district resident.
"As it has become known, the Tbilisi City Court on April 24, in a closed hearing, chose a pretrial detention measure for Tamaz Goloev, a resident of the Republic's Leningor district, who had previously been illegally detained by the Georgian State Security Service and accused of espionage under trumped-up pretexts," the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reads.
The Ministry noted that on April 21, the South Ossetian citizen and student at the A.A. Tibilov South-Ossetia State University,Goloev entered the territory of the neighboring state on personal business through the Razdakhæn checkpoint, located in Leningor district of South Ossetia on the border with Georgia.
"On April 22, Goloev was captured in Tbilisi as a result of a provocation by the Georgian special services and placed under arrest.
Upon receiving reliable information regarding this incident, the South Ossetian side used its available resources to ascertain Goloev's fate, including through the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) hotline," the Foreign Ministry continued.
During the ongoing consultations via the IPRM hotline, on the evening of April 24, the South Ossetian side was informed that a court had ordered a two-month pretrial detention for Tamaz Goloev.
The next court hearing will be held in June.
"We regard such completely unjustified actions by the Georgian repressive apparat, which are blatantly political in nature, as a gross violation of Tamaz Goloev's rights and a continuation of the terror policy of the Zviad Gamsakhurdia and Mikheil Saakashvili eras, and we call for his immediate release.
What happened to Goloev is clear evidence that the Georgian territory, despite the occasional "peaceful" voices heard from official Tbilisi, has been and remains dangerous and hostile to South Ossetia and its residents," the Foreign Ministry has stated.
The Foreign Ministry strongly recommends that residents of South Ossetia refrain from traveling to Georgia for safety reasons.
