5th Ergneti meeting: occupation forces refuse to dismantle illegal ‘police-posts’ or open ‘checkpoints’
The fifth special meeting in Ergneti has ended with no results. Photo: Goga Aptsiauri/Radio Liberty/Free Europe.
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Occupation forces have refused to dismantle two illegal ‘police-posts’ arranged on Tbilisi-administered territory and declined to open a so-called checkpoint to the Akhalgori district, where the local population is on the verge of humanitarian catastrophe.
De facto Tskhinvali leadership said at the special meeting in Ergneti earlier today that the closure of so-called checkpoints to Russian-occupied Tskhinvali is because of the Georgian police post in the village of Chorchana, Khashuri municipality, on the Tbilisi administered territory.
The occupying forces once again demanded the removal of the Georgian police post and refused to attend the Ergneti Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism Meeting (IPRM) which was scheduled tomorrow, as Tbilisi said that the police post will remain where it is now.
The European Union Monitoring Mission observing situation at the village of Chorchana. Photo: Erik Hoeg/EUMM mission head.
Tension on the ground started at the end of August when Tbilisi opened a police post in the village of Chorchana, on the territory which is under the control of the central Georgian government.
Tskhinvali demanded the removal of the post as it “posed threats to their security.”
Tbilisi refused to do so and the occupying forces opened two new “police posts” at the village of Chorchana, on the Tbilisi-administered territory and also closed so-called checkpoints, creating serious humanitarian problems in the occupied region.
Tskhinvali continues not to act constructively,” Irakli Antadze, from the Georgian State Security Service stated after the meeting.
He said that special meetings to settle the problems at the villages of Chorchana and Tsnelisi will continue and the issue will also be raised at the Geneva International Talks next week.
The de facto leadership of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region has announced a temporary closure of a so-called checkpoint at the village of Perevi in western Georgia. The de facto security committee of Tskhinvali says that the reason for the closure between 8 pm on September 20 and 6 am on September 22 is the so called Day of the Republic of South Ossetia.
The de facto Tskhinvali government has announced the closure of two crossing points with the rest of Georgia, saying the reason is an ‘escalation of tension at certain sections of the border with Georgia.’The so-called security committee of Tskhinvali has accused Tbilisi of sparking the tension, stating that the crossing points will reopen when the tension fades.
The central Georgian government has confirmed that a ‘police post’ opened by occupying forces near the village of Tsnelisi, Kareli Municipality, is on Tbilisi-administered territory. The confirmation came after today’s meeting in the village of Ergneti between the members of the central Georgian government and the de facto leadership of the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region.
Members of the central Georgian government and the de facto Tskhinvali leadership have held a four-hour meeting in the village of Ergneti earlier today to once again discuss the fate of the Georgian police checkpoint in the village of Chorchana in Khashuri municipality, near the occupation line on Tbilisi-administered territory.
De facto authorities of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region say that the tension at the villages of Chorchana and Tsnelisi will be eased only if and after Tbilisi removes a police post in Chocrhana, located on the territory which is under the control of the central Georgian government.
Margo Martiashvili, who suffered a stroke in the Russian-controlled Akhalgori district, has died earlier today in the hospital of occupied Tskhinvali as her relatives were unable to transport her to the Tbilisi-controlled territory via the shortest route due to the closure of the so-called border.
EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell says that the death of 70-year-old Margo Martiashvili, who suffered a stroke in the Russian-occupied Akhalgori district and was unable to be transported to the Tbilisi-administered territory because of the closed “checkpoints” with Tskhinvali, is “tragic, and we are doing our best for the crossing points to be reopened.”
The Russian controlled occupation forces are conducting a census in the occupied Akhalgori district, the Democracy Research Institute NGO says.