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The pair talk with Georgian officials after being allowed to leave South Ossetia (Georgia’s State Ministry of Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion)

Two Georgian citizens being held in South Ossetia have been allowed to return to Tbilisi-con­trolled territory. Levan Kutashvili and Ioseb Pavliashvili were detained along with former Georgian soldier Archil Tatu­nashvili, who died in custody in Tskhin­vali (Tskhinval) ‘in unclear cir­cum­stances’. South Ossetian author­i­ties have refused to release Tatunashvili’s body.

The pair were detained in Akhalgori (Leningor) on 22 February, and despite being released from custody soon after, were ordered to remain in South Ossetia until the inves­ti­ga­tion into Tatunashvili’s death was complete.

According to a statement from Ketevan Tsikhe­lashvili, Georgia’s Minister for Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, upon their return, Kutashvili and Pavliashvili met with the minister for Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, Minister of IDPs and Refugees Sozar Subari, and officials from the Interior Ministry and State Security Service.

‘We are still waiting for Archil Tatunashvili’s body to be handed over, and hope that this will soon happen’, Tsikhe­lashvili said. Subari said they are working so that this will happen ‘soon’.

Deputy Interior Minister Kakha Sabanadze said neither had any ‘signs of physical violence or torture’.

Tatu­nashvili was arrested on 22 February in Akhalgori, and died in Tskhin­vali later that night. According to the South Ossetian security services, he died after falling from the stairs while trying to escape. They also accused him of being a Georgian informant, and ‘par­tic­i­pat­ing in Georgian aggres­sion in 2004–2008’. They later linked him to a homemade bomb they say they found in Akhalgori.

[Read on OC Media: South Ossetia links dead Georgian citizen to ‘home-made bomb’]

Despite calls from the EU, NATO, the US, and UK, South Ossetian author­i­ties have repeat­ed­ly refused to hand over Tatunashvili’s body until a forensic exam­i­na­tion is complete. They say tissue samples have been sent to Moscow for analysis, and that the body remains in Tskhin­vali.

Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili appealed to Russian author­i­ties last week, calling for ‘joint steps to resolve the difficult situation’, adding he was ready for a ‘direct dialogue with Abk­hazians and Ossetians’. The statement sparked backlash from the oppo­si­tion, with Giorgi Kandelaki from European Georgia claiming Kvirikashvili’s appeal is ‘alarming’ and ‘discards the notion of occu­pa­tion’.

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.

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