21:26, 16 April 2014

South Ossetia hands journalists detained by border guards over to Georgia

On April 16, South-Ossetian authorities have delivered to the Georgian party three Georgian citizens – journalists of the Georgian TV3 Channel, detained on April 15 near the village of Adzvi in the Gori District, said the KGB (Committee for State Security) of South Ossetia. The transfer of the detainees took place in the border village of Ergneti.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 15 the frontier outfit of the Russian FSB's Border Guard Service detained the above three Georgians – employees of TV3 – on suspicion of violating the border of South Ossetia and handed them over to the Border Service of the KGB of South Ossetia.

"The Georgian journalists have defiantly crossed the state border, despite the fact that they clearly saw the banners and signs of the border. It was an obvious provocation on their part," Murat Djioev, the South-Ossetian presidential envoy for post-conflict settlement, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The Republic's authorities have demonstrated a sign of goodwill by having decided to make an administrative expulsion of these citizens," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed at the KGB of South Ossetia.

Author: Maria Kotayeva, Beslan Kmuzov

Source: CK correspondents