The number of violations of crossing the state border of South Ossetia with Georgia was considerably reduced in the last month. This has been said the journalists by the Attorney General of South Ossetia Merab Chigoev after the next meeting of participants of the Mechanisms on Prevention and Reaction to Incidents (MPRI), held today in the Georgian village of Ergneti.
According to Chigoev, the agenda of the meeting was pretty rich, ten issues have been discussed.
"Traditionally, the first question that I raised as the leader of the South Ossetian delegation – was about the events at the border since the last meeting in the format of MPRI in the last month. It was noted that the tendency to reduce violations of the state border was still in progress and it could not help feeling satisfaction ", - said Chigoev.
He said that over the last month the South Ossetian authorities had fixed 15 cases of the state border violations, 25 people had been detained, 24 of them - were fined by the court and expelled back to Georgia.
"Unfortunately, the law enforcement bodies of Georgia, taking a similar measure to violators, fine them for a substantial sum - about two thousand dollars, which is almost 30 more than the penalty applied in such cases by the South Ossetian side," - underlined Chigoev.
During the meeting, added the Attorney General, he had drawn attention of the Georgian delegation to this fact, noting that the violators, who were usually the peasants from the adjacent areas, could not pay a large fine.
"I offered them to follow the example of the South Ossetian side and reduce the sum of the fine," - said Chigoev.
He has also pointed to a more rigorous treatment of detainees by the Georgian security forces, who put the violators into prison until a fine is paid, while the judicial authorities of South Ossetia, even if the violators are not able to pay a fine (two thousand dollars), have repeatedly made the decision to substitute the fine for expulsion, without containing the detainees in prison.
The opportunity of mutual transferring of detainees - citizens of South Ossetia and Georgia -was also discussed at the meeting.
"We have agreed to hold consultations on this issue and to prepare the concrete proposals by the next meeting ", - said Chigoev.
He recalled that such measure had repeatedly been used in practice and had a positive effect on increasing the trust between the parties.
The South Ossetian side has also suggested the participants of the meeting to take measures for de-mining of the border areas of South Ossetia and Georgia, where there were cases of being blown up by people and livestock. It was mostly about the land plots of the border villages’ residents and the fields for grazing. According to Chigoev, the proposal was supported by all participants and it will likely be implemented after the relevant preparations.
Chigoev also said that in connection with his recent appointment as the Attorney General of South Ossetia and the cessation of working as the South Ossetian presidential envoy for post-conflict settlement, he seemed to be the last time leading the South Ossetian delegation at the meetings in the format of MPRI.
"The nomination of my successor is not defined yet, but I think, he will be a person possessing the necessary experience, who will be able to fulfill his duties carefully and sensibly and to represent South Ossetia in this format", - said Chigoev. The next meeting of the MPRI is scheduled for May 25. The meeting was attended by representatives of South Ossetia, Russia, Georgia, the EU Observer Mission in Georgia and the OSCE.
