Red Cross to Mediate Missing Persons Talks

Georgia and occupied South Ossetia representatives will hold talks regarding missing persons under the auspices of the International Red Cross.

Representative of the South Ossetia/Tskhinvali region, David Sanakoyev, announced the news during Wednesday’s session on the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM), regular meetings have been held since the war of 2008.

According to Ossetian News Agency RES, Sanakoyev told the inaugural Missing Persons talks will be held on February 5th, involving parties overseen by the International Red Cross.

During the Wednesday session, the Georgian side raised the issue of two Georgian citizens who were detained for border violations. According to the information, 23-year old Levan Lapachi, who was detained a few days prior, was released before the IPRM meeting.

Irakli Beraia, Head of the Department for Analysis at the State Security Service, said eleven people for the border crossing have been detained during the last month. According to Beraia, everyone detained in January have been released, except two, who currently remain in the Tskhinvali isolator.

The Red Cross has also been facilitating meetings over missing people from the war in Abkhazia, 1992-93. The talks are held in Gali and involve Georgia’s Refugee Ministry and de-facto representatives of Abkhazia.