In South Ossetia, charges presented to two Russians who accused Kokoity of cowardice

The General Prosecutor's Office of South Ossetia has presented charges to the two residents of North Ossetia who have accused Eduard Kokoity of cowardice and were arrested for a skirmish with President of South Ossetia and his guards.

So far, human rights organizations and relatives of the brothers cannot achieve their transfer to a Russian SIZO (pre-trial detention facility).

The "Kommersant" reports that brothers Vadim and Vladislav Kozaev are incriminated of application of violence to representatives of power.

On August 9, at the height of warfare, two residents of North Ossetia left for Tskhinvali aiming to take their mother out to Russia. However in Dzhava village, 20 km off Tskhinvali, they unexpectedly met President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity. They knew each other: Vadim Kozaev is an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Ossetia, and Vladislav Kozaev is a former trooper, hero of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, who took part in combat operations in both republics.

Having met the brothers, Mr Kokoity asked them about what they were doing there. "And Vladislav answered to that: 'What are you doing here? Ran away from Tskhinvali, where women and old men are hiding from bombs in cellars?'," Kozaevs' relatives told the newspaper.

Further, the "Kommersant" writes: "Lately, Vladislav Kozaev was in opposition to the head of South Ossetia, he was bringing the newspaper 'Social Democrat of Alania' from Vladikavkaz to South Ossetia; the newspaper was known for critical attitude to Kokoity's activities."

"We believe that Eduard Kokoity knew well in advance about the forthcoming military actions, therefore, he had left Tskhinvali, taking no care about evacuation of peaceful residents, old men, women and children," said human rights activist Ruslan Makaev, who heads the committee in defence of Kozaev brothers, having added that Kokoity's guards started beating the brothers, and Eduard Kokoity, according to some sources, also took part in the beating.

Later, sources from the KGB of South Ossetia reported that the law enforcement bodies of the republic had accused Kozaevs of "splitting the Ossetian society", having added that "nobody wants to execute them." President Kokoity said personally in the press conference that nobody was going to release Russian citizens, "they were and will stay behind bars," the newspaper reports.

Meanwhile, the relatives of the detainees have addressed human rights organizations with a request to help in investigating the situation and releasing Vadim and Vladislav Kozaev. The Human Rights Centre "Amnesty International" has reported that its employees already know the situation and are going to get into it.

"Unlike many of our fighters, I think that from the military point of view President Kokoity was absolutely right, when in the morning on August 8 he left the city and went to Dzhava, closer to the Russian border," said earlier Timur Tskhovrebov, an authoritative Ossetian field commander in the time of the 1991-1992 war. "The Commander-in-Chief should not stay in the battle line. Another question is why in Dzhava the General Headquarters were not unfolded immediately. Why didn't we get any orders - to move forward there, or to hold defence here? Why were we left alone?" As he said, "perfectly armed units of the Ministry of Defence retreated, as soon as someone shouted about another Georgian breakthrough," and the main battle burden was born by civil guardsmen.