Two Georgians Arrested Near South Ossetia Contact Line

BERSHUETI, Georgia – Two Georgians citizens were detained by a Russian border patrol unit on Saturday near the contact line separating Georgia’s breakaway region South Ossetia from federal authority in the capital Tbilisi.

Roin and Giorgi Zautashvili were arrested by officers from Russia’s feared FSB intelligence service for a border violation near the village of Bershueti in Georgia’s central Gori region, according to Democracy and Freedom Watch’s website.

The two were arrested while tending to their cattle on the Georgian-side of the de facto border between Georgia and South Ossetia, municipality head David Tsertsvadze said following Zautashvili’s arrest.

Gori’s municipal government said two other Georgian’s from the villages of Adzvi and Plavismani were released by the Russian authorities in South Ossetia’s capital Tskhinvali after being accused of a similar border violation.

Russia’s military and intelligence units operating in South Ossetia frequently violate the boundary of the contact line and illegally detain Georgian citizens from the nearby, impoverished villages.

The detained individuals are usually released after being imprisoned for several days in an FSB or South Ossetian detention center, where they’re forced to pay between 1,900-3,300 Russian Rubles (USD 30-50).
Immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian-backed rebels in South Ossetia broke away from Georgia. Georgian government forces fought two wars against Russian-backed separatist forces in South Ossetia between 1991-2008.

The wars left thousands dead and led to the ethnic cleansing of most of the region’s ethnic Georgians.

Russia has effectively occupied more than 20 per cent of Georgia’s territory for more than 20 years. Moscow recognized South Ossetia and Georgia’s other breakaway state, Abkhazia, as independent countries in 2008.

By Nicholas Waller

Photo: REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili