Этот пост доступен на языках: Русский

South Ossetian author­i­ties have refused to hand over the body of a Georgian citizen who died in custody in Tskhin­vali (Tskhinval) last week under unclear cir­cum­stances. Relatives of former soldier Archil Tatu­nashvili blocked Georgia’s main east–west motorway, demanding the Georgian gov­ern­ment take action.

Tatu­nashvili was arrested on 22 February in Akhalgori (Leningor), and died in Tskhin­vali later that night. According to South Ossetia, he died after falling down from stairs while trying to escape. They also accuse him of being a Georgian  informant, and ‘par­tic­i­pat­ing in Georgian aggres­sion in 2004–2008’.

[Read on OC Media: Georgian citizen dies in custody in South Ossetia]

Tissue samples transferred to Russia

During an emergency Incident Pre­ven­tion and Response Mechanism Meeting (IPRM) on 26 February, South Ossetian author­i­ties refused a request from the Georgian State Security Service (SSG) to hand over his body.

According to the SSG, the South Ossetian del­e­ga­tion claimed tissue samples had been sent to Russia for analysis.

South Ossetian state news agency Res quoted Murat Dzhioyev, the head of the South Ossetian del­e­ga­tion, as saying that ‘inde­pen­dent experts’ will examine the cause of Tatunashvili’s death.

‘As it has already been reported, his death was a result of heart failure. This was confirmed by our pre­lim­i­nary exam­i­na­tion. In order that our con­clu­sions are confirmed by inde­pen­dent experts, we have sent the materials for an inde­pen­dent exam­i­na­tion’, Dzhioyev said.

They said Tatunashvili’s body will be trans­ferred to Georgian-con­trolled territory ‘upon the receipt of the con­clu­sion’, according to the SSG.

The SSG crit­i­cised the South Ossetian author­i­ties, claiming the ‘position of the de facto gov­ern­ment is cat­e­gor­i­cal­ly unac­cept­able for the State Security Service of Georgia’. They vowed to continue to work to retrieve Tatunashvili’s body, who they say ‘died in unclear cir­cum­stances’.

Olesya Vartanyan, an analyst for the Inter­na­tion­al Crisis Group, a peace­build­ing group, wrote on Twitter that she hoped the forensic exam­i­na­tion in Russia would not prevent further ‘inde­pen­dent expertise in future’.

Backlash from Tatunashvili’s family

Soon after the IPRM meeting, around 500 sup­port­ers of Tatu­nashvili, including relatives and neigh­bours, gathered in the village of Natakhtari, near South Ossetia, and blocked the main motorway demanding that Georgian author­i­ties react.

After pro­test­ers demanded Georgian officials visit them, Dimitri Khundadze, a majori­tar­i­an MP from the Mtskheta Region and Minister of Refugees Sozar Subari, rushed to the site, according to Radio Tavi­su­ple­ba.

Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze tweeted from Geneva that ‘Tatu­nashvili is another victim of the Russian occu­pa­tion of Georgian regions Abkhazia and Tskhin­vali’, calling for ‘immediate access’ for inter­na­tion­al and regional human rights groups on the ground. ‘Only through inter­na­tion­al pressure, occu­pa­tion and all its grave con­se­quences can be ended, human rights protected, and inter­na­tion­al law upheld’, he added.

The family has given Georgian author­i­ties two days to retrieve Tatunashvili’s body and ensure an inves­ti­ga­tion into his death, after which they have vowed to convene another rally.

Netgazeti quoted Paata Zakareishvili, former Minister of Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, as saying that there are ‘a number of ways’ to defend the interest of Georgian citizens in South Ossetia.

‘There should always be direct Georgian–Abkhazian and Georgian–Ossetian relations. We ignore this. If we had permanent contact with them, and acknowl­edged them as parties, we would be able to talk to many people in critical sit­u­a­tions’, Zakareishvili said.

Two others detained

The SSG has demanded that two other Georgian citizens detained with Tatu­nashvili, Ioseb Pavliashvili and Levan Kutashvili, be allowed to return to Tbilisi con­trolled territory.

Murat Dzhioyev, the head of the South Ossetian Del­e­ga­tion to the IPRM, told Res the pair were released from custody on 24 February, but have been forbidden from leaving Akhalgori ‘until the inves­ti­ga­tion is concluded’.

‘Strong concerns’ over the case

The Co-Chairs of the Geneva Inter­na­tion­al Dis­cus­sions, set up after the August 2008 war, said in a statement on 26 February they were ‘strongly concerned’ by Tatunashvili’s death, and urged the author­i­ties in Tskhin­vali to hand over the body ‘without delay’. The Dis­cus­sions are co-chaired by OSCE, EU, and UN.

The European Union, United States, and United Kingdom, also expressed concerns at his death, and called for more trans­paren­cy.

[Read on OC Media: EU ‘gravely concerned’ at death in custody in South Ossetia]

James Appathu­rai, NATO’s Special Rep­re­sen­ta­tive for the Caucasus and Central Asia, wrote on Facebook he was ‘deeply concerned’ by Tatunashvili’s death and the detention of two others.

‘The two detained Georgians should imme­di­ate­ly be allowed to travel to Georgian admin­is­tered territory’, he said.

For ease of reading, we choose not to use qual­i­fiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecog­nised’, or ‘partially recog­nised’ when dis­cussing insti­tu­tions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

Comments

comments