The 96th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting will be held in Ergneti on July 30 in order to resume the dialogue to reduce tensions and prevent incidents along the South Ossetian/Tskhinvali Administrative Boundary Line.
The Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia Marek Szczygiel and the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus Rudolf Michalka underline the importance of dialogue to reduce tensions along the South Ossetian/Tskhinvali Administrative Boundary Line”, reads the joint statement of the co-facilitators of Ergneti IPRM.
Over the past weeks two Georgian citizens were arrested near the administrative line dividing the occupied Tskhinvali region from Georgia-controlled territory.
Resident of central Georgia’s Kaspi Municipality village of Kvemo Tchala Zaza Gakheladze was shot in the leg and then arrested near the so-called border of the occupied Tskhinvali and then was taken to Akhalgori last week.
On July 3, Khvicha Mgaloblishvili, a local of central Georgia’s Mejvriskhevi village, was arrested by occupation forces near the administrative line bordering the occupied Tskhinvali region.
The so-called security committee of Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region stated on July 16 that Mgaloblishvili was going to catch bats in the villages of Artsevi and Ghromi in Gori municipality in order to sell each of them for $5,000.
The US and UNDP representatives to Georgia said they are concerned by the shooting and illegal detention of Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze.
The European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) also responded to the incident on July 12 and promised that EUMM would follow up the alleged shooting incident. In this context , Head of Mission Marek Szczygiel recalled the importance of the swift resumption of the Ergneti Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism.