15 May 2007, 22:42
Kokoity: authorities of South Ossetia do not block Georgian villages
President Eduard Kokoity, making comments today on the statement of Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Nogaideli on imposing the responsibility for the aggravated situation in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone on President of the Republic of South Ossetia (RSO), has stated: "South Ossetia has got used to Georgian authorities' accusations against the South-Ossetian party of any escalation of violence. However, the authorities of South Ossetia do not block any Georgian villages.
They were forced to block the traffic in the section of the Transcaucasian Highway controlled by the Georgian party, where at illegal posts Georgian policemen subject the passing travellers to humiliating searches, interrogations and scanning of all passport data.
Numerous appeals of South Ossetia to the Georgian party and world community on violations of human rights at the above posts received no reaction. In this case, the blocking of the Highway was a response measure to the actions of Georgian special services. The RSO people have completely supported this decision, since they have felt by themselves all the lawlessness committed by the authorities of Georgia."
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported earlier that the situation in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone got sharply aggravated on April 11, after the Georgian party deployed posts of Georgian special services, which made searches and interrogations of Ossetian natives who passed along the Highway, scanned their passports and recorded their mobile phone numbers.
Author: Georgiy Vaneyev, CK correspondent
