Report of the Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg based on the findings of two independent experts who were assigned to monitor the investigation of the cases of people missing during and after the hostilities in South Ossetia in August 2008, reflects the inaction of the Georgian law enforcement bodies and speaks for their participation in the abduction of three young citizens of South Ossetia, stated South Ossetian President's Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev. "First, I want to say that the report is very interesting. These international experts were invited upon the request of Mr. Hammarberg. We had agreed with Hammarberg that the output of the work on the missing would be discussed within the framework of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) established by the Geneva Discussions. The report of Mr. Hammarberg should have been presented there. Somehow, we got the report without having discussed it within the IPRM", said Chochiev.
"Second, I found nothing new in the Report; everything that is written there concerning the case of three young citizens of our country and finding of the the experts - we knew it for long ago. We must give them credit for their brave action, since I thought that they would have to cope with the policy of double standards and they would be afraid to tell the truth. But, after the Report of the EU International Fact-Finding Mission headed by Ms. Heidi Tagliavini, it was the second case, when one can positively evaluate the work of the representatives of international organizations. This time, like in the report of Ms Tagliavini, there are a lot of things they dared speak about openly ", said the official.
According to Boris Chochiev, the Report clearly stated the facts of inaction of law enforcement bodies of Georgia and that three young citizens of South Ossetia were kidnapped 13 October 2008 by representatives of the the Georgian Interior Ministry, and throughout this time, the relevant organizations in Georgia intentionally dragged time in their case, more accurately, they did nothing.
According to Boris Chochiyev, the report states that on Oct. 14, 2008 monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) recorded with a reference to the report of the Georgian police in the village of Ditsi that on October 13, 2008, ehtnic Ossetians were detained and taken to Gori (Georgia).
"Unfortunately, until now none of the OSCE representative had ever voiced this information. It once again shows the biased approach of this organization and their pro-Georgian sentiments. Once again, we found the proofs that the OSCE mission had helped Saakashvili regime in the aggression against the Ossetian people. And, this organizations together with Saakashvili should be brought ot justice for the aggression against the peaceful people of South Ossetia in August 2008 ", said Chochiev.
Chochiev believes that the report contains certain wordings that might be considered as continuation of the report of Ms. Tagliavini.
"The report says that a Georgian tank was destroyed during the Georgian attack at Tskhinval. Yes, it was and is no longer open to doubt, although representatives of the Saakashvili regime is still trying hard to present it differently", stressed the official.
In conclusion, Chochiev noted that despite some claims to the report, the experts generally gave an objective response to the Georgian side. "I think that the Co-Chairs of the Geneva discussions, who had unfortunately taken pro-Georgian stance, tried to avoid discussing the issue of missing persons for it was difficult to answer many questions. But at the same time, they should be grateful to Mr. Hammarberg and the experts for a fair and impartial work. The Co-Chairs now have a good example", said Chochiev.
It is worth reminding that international experts Bruce Pegg and Nicolas Sebire assigned by ttracted Hammarberg have started their work on the missing issue March 5, 2010 and completed their mission May 1 (Sebire) and June 25, 2010 (Pegg) .
