18 March 2009, 22:00
Charges dropped from Georgians detained in South Ossetia
The authorities of South Ossetia have dismissed all the charges from the citizens of Georgia, detained in Tskhinvali by the Republic's law enforcement bodies in late February for illegal crossing the border.
Demur Chigladze and David Kapanadze are still kept at the isolation facility in Tskhinvali, and nothing is known so far about further plans of South Ossetia's authorities, as the GHN reports.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 27 the Georgian MIA disseminated information that four residents of Georgia were kidnapped by a criminal grouping in the Karel District (Eastern Georgia) near administrative border with South Ossetia.
According to the Georgian MIA, armed persons stopped the car with Georgians near Kodi village and kidnapped the four passengers. Later, the kidnappers released two hostages, transported the remaining two deep into South Ossetia and demanded 6000 euros of ransom.
However, South Ossetia refuted the information. According to Ibragim Gasseev, Deputy Minister of Defence of South Ossetia, on February 27 two citizens of Georgia illegally crossed the border and were detained. "Ransom is out of question," said Mr Gasseev.
Later, the Georgians, detained in South Ossetia, said that they just lost their way.
Let us note here that the observers of the European Union (EU) took part in liberating the Georgian. The EU's representatives in Georgia demanded to return Georgian citizens saying that they had been kidnapped, not detained. "This is kidnapping of peaceful residents, not detention," the "Rosbalt" quotes Hansjorg Haber, head of the EU's mission of observers, as saying.
