Georgia and South Ossetia note reduction in count of detentions on both sides of the border

At the 35^th meeting within the framework of the Mechanisms Prevention of and Reaction to Incident (MPRI), held on June 21 in the Georgian village of Ergneti, officials of Georgia and South Ossetia discussed seven agenda points related to the situation in the border areas and release of detainees by both parties.

During the meeting, the parties agreed to transfer, within 24 hours, a Georgian citizen Rostom Sosiashvili, sentenced to two conditional years in South Ossetia, to his relatives. Sosiashvili had been arrested for illegal crossing of the state border of South Ossetia, Khokh Gagloity, the head of the South-Ossetian delegation, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The Georgian party also expressed its concern about mistreatment of the Georgian citizen Gigauri, who was released from a South-Ossetian prison. However, the South-Ossetian delegates did not agree; in particular, Mr Gagloity said that all the detainees are citizens of Georgia are periodically accessed by employees of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), who monitor the observance of detainees' rights.

Khokh Gagloity has also noted that the meeting highly valued the release from the Georgian prison of a citizen of South Ossetia Marik Dudaev, and added that the South-Ossetian party had expressed hope for a similar approach to all other citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia kept in Georgian prisons.

The head of the Georgian delegation noted, in general, a positive dynamics of the work within the humanitarian format of meetings within the MPRI.

The next meeting within the framework of the MPRI will be held on July 31.