South Osetia makes efforts to set free Marek Dudayev

50 residents of the village of Artsevi, South Osetia's Tskhinval district arrived in Tskhinval on March 22 to address the Government and President Eduard Kokoity with a request to help release their fellow-villager Marek Dudayev.

On March 16, at 7:00, an explosion took place at the Mtsketa-Tbilisi sector of the Georgian railroad, causing destruction of the permanent way. State security officers who arrived at the scene linked the terrorist act with Maker Dudayev, a resident of South Osetia. Georgian law-enforcement agencies conducted an operation to detain Marek Dudayev in the village of Artsevi, which is situated in the zone of the Georgian-Osetian conflict and consequently in the zone controlled by the peacekeeping force. Dudayev was working at his farm at the moment of detention. He was badly wounded and taken to a hospital in the town of Gori, where he was performed an operation. With all this going on, there have been reports that Dudayev put up armed resistance and was wounded in the exchange of fire.

The next day, March 17, chief of the Georgian State Security Ministry's investigatory department Mr Gviniashvili announced they had no evidence of Dudayev's involvement in the terrorist act. Nevertheless Marek Dudayev is still in the hands of the Georgian law-enforcement agencies. His health deteriorated, and his was taken to a hospital in Tbilisi.

The Osetian side is doing its best to set Marek Dudayev free.

The abduction of Marek Dudayev may cause tension in the conflict zone since Osetins and Georgians live in the village of Artsevi side by side. Relations between them have often been complicated in the post-war period. The Georgian side has not taken any concrete measures to settle the issue so far.