South-Ossetian citizens released from Georgian prisons knew nothing about today's exchange of prisoners

The citizens of South Ossetia, who were released today by the Georgian party side, were kept ignorant about their liberation from Georgia prisons until they were brought to the border with South Ossetia. They told about it to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent and claimed that they had not committed the crimes, for which they were convicted in the territory of Georgia.

Let us remind you that the preliminary agreement on exchange of detainees was reached between Georgia and South Ossetia had been reached on February 17 at the tripartite meeting within the mechanism for preventing and reacting to border incidents. Today, in the village of Ergneti the authorities of South Ossetia handed over to the Georgian party seven Georgian citizens, who were serving their sentences or were kept under inquiry in Tskhinvali. In response, the South Ossetian party received back seven citizens of South Ossetia and Russia, who were kept in prisons in Georgia.

Spartak Driaev, one of those liberated, born in 1970, had spent 11 years for murder at the Georgian prison in Khoni (Georgia). According to his story, through the whole period he had never been visited by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) or the European Union (EU).

"At my detention I was severely beaten by Georgian law enforcers. I was accused of killing a group of people whom I'd never seen, and don't know who they are," said Driaev.

Among the released Ossetians, there is Yuri Khachirov, father of the missing Alan Khachirov, who was 15 at the moment of disappearance. Khachirov Senior served 5 years out of appointed 15 years in the prison in Rustavi (Georgia) on charges of storing drugs and money counterfeiting.

"I was detained in 2006. After detention, they took me to Gori, where I was beaten for a long time; however, in prison they did not touch us; only prison guards abused our nationality. Sometimes we were visited by Red Cross and EU officials. They promised to help and brought necessary medications, as I have heart problems," said Khachirov.

His wife Venera Tibilova says, all in tears, that she had no hope to see her husband alive. "As to our son, caught by Georgians in October 2008, we had and still have no news; just a video, where three guys, our son among them, are kicked by soldier's boots of Georgian special agents. Later, we were also told that they were seen in Georgian villages, and people saw how they were beaten in the forest," the woman said.

According to Merab Chigoev, deputy presidential envoy in South Ossetia on post-conflict settlement, Georgia still keeps in custody 24 prisoners arrested before the warfare in August 2008, and four post-war detainees.

According to his story, citizens of Georgia, accused of illegal border-crossing are still kept in the detention centre in South Ossetia.