Ergneti talks: illegal activities at occupation line on agenda
Tweet 
Share
Georgian officials, representatives of international organisations and the de-facto authorities from Georgia’s Russian-occupied region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) have gathered around the table in Ergneti to discuss issues that concern people living along the occupation line today.
Representative of de-facto government Murat Jioev is being interviewed by local Ossetian and Georgian media. Photo from www.eumm.eu
A tent in the village of Ergneti has hosted the 81st Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting. The release of a Georgian man Giorgi Giunashvili sentenced to 20 years in prison by an unrecognised court in Tskhinvali region has been among the top issues, as well as the urgent need to transparently investigate the case of David Basharuli who had gone missing in 2014 and later found dead.
At today’s meeting we also spoke about the illegal borderisation process. As an example we discussed the so-called fire protection zone between the occupied villages of Orchosani and Karapila, which, as we observe, later grew into a transportation road,” Kakha Kemoklidze, the Deputy Head of the Information-Analytical Department under the State Security Service said.
According to Kemoklidze, the Georgian officials suggest the immediate suspension of illegal processes that not only causes threat to security, but also affect the local population. However, the representatives of the de-facto government claimed this road does not cause any threat and it only aims at making it easier for the firefighters to approach the site.
Deputy Head of the Information-Analytical Department Kakha Kemoklidze speaks to local media in Ergneti. Photo from www.eumm.eu
Special attention was also paid to dismantling of abandoned Georgian houses in the village of Eredvi, which the Georgian side believes is aimed at "erasing Georgian traces” in the settlement.
The de-facto government has destroyed all the houses that prior to 2008 belonged to the ethnically Georgian local population. The representatives of the central government told the participants of the meeting that the above mentioned activities are not only vandalism but also include elements of crime and we have asked international mediators to deeply study the case”, Kemoklidze said.
The detention of Georgians along the occupation line has been a common practice since 2008. 11 people have been detained allegedly for "illegally crossing” the occupation line since the previous meeting in Ergneti on September 7; however, all of them have been released.