December 31 in the Georgian frontier village of Ergneti South Ossetian authorities handed over to the Georgian side its citizen Taymuraz Dzherapov.
As reported to IA «RES» Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy of the Republic of South Ossetia for post-conflict settlement Murat Dzhioev, Dzherapov was pardoned by the Executive Order of the President of the RSO Leonid Tibilov.
"Taking into account the requests of parents of the prisoners- citizens of South Ossetia kept in Georgian prisons, the President of South Ossetia Leonid Tibilov pardoned a citizen of Georgia Dzherapov, which is handed over to the Georgian side. November 15, 2010 Dzherapov was sentenced by the Supreme Court of South Ossetia to 13 years imprisonment for attempting to illegally seizing and retaining power. Today's action was an act of mercy and humanity showed by the leadership of South Ossetia,"- said Dzhioev.
He has noted that the pardon and transfer of Dzherapov to the Georgian side is the confirmation of readiness to work towards mutual release of citizens.
South Ossetian Presidential Envoy for post-conflict settlement has stressed that the authorities of Georgia have not yet realized the necessity of mutual release of prisoners.
"The issue of mutual release of prisoners - citizens of South Ossetia and Georgia-has repeatedly been brought up for discussion in the framework of the Geneva discussions, as well as at the meetings of the Mechanisms to prevent and respond to incidents. The work on this issue is carried out constantly, though we have not yet reached mutual understanding with the Georgian side. However, it should be noted that in the summer of 2013 was released a citizen of the Republic of South Ossetia Marik Dudaev, sentenced to long-term imprisonment by the Georgian court, and all these years we had been seeking his release, and thank God, now he is at home,"- said Dzhioev.
He added that as the last round of the Geneva Discussions co-chairs of South Ossetia had stressed the necessity of revision of the judgments on the three citizens of South Ossetia, sentenced to life imprisonment in Georgia.
"All the three citizens of South Ossetia were convicted solely for political reasons, on trumped-up charges. We offered the Georgian side to reconsider those judgments passed under the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili. Unfortunately, to date, this issue is not resolved, but to encourage a solution to this issue, the South Ossetian side has made the act of pardon and released Dzherapov,"- has underlined Dzhioev, expressing the hope that this step will be appreciated by the Georgian side.
