Occupied Region of Tskhinvali Issues Statement on Death of Georgian Citizen
Following the death of a Georgian citizen on February 23, the so-called Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia issued a statement earlier today, in which it claims that Georgia is not taking in to account "important facts" regarding the matter.
“Recently, the situation in Georgia has been fuelled by the death of Georgian citizen A. Tatunashvili in a Tskhinvali hospital, who was detained on February 22, 2018, by South Ossetian law enforcement in the village of Leningor, on suspicion of sabotage and involvement in the killing of civilians during the military aggression of Georgia against South Ossetia in August 2008.
Attention needs to be drawn to an important fact - a fact that numerous media sources have been silent about – Whilst being transfered, the detainee attacked the guards and, having captured one of them, tried to shoot him. This attempt was suppressed by representatives of law enforcement agencies, who, using force, stopped the attacker.
Common sense suggests a very important detail: South Ossetia could not be interested in such an outcome of events.
Nevertheless, the competent authorities of South Ossetia conduct all necessary actions in such cases, and an investigation will establish the full picture of what happened and determine the exact cause of Tatunashvili's death, after which his body will be handed over to the family.
However, we should pay attention to the contradictory and disproportionate reaction that this incident has caused in Georgia, revealing the real state in which modern Georgian domestic and foreign policy, its state ideology, resides.
While one part of Georgian society calls for the calm and sober assessment of the situation, the other shamelessly uses this very sensitive topic, related to the death of Tatunashvili, to improve its own rating in the Georgian political struggle.
It is particularly indicative to return to Georgian political vocabulary, seemingly forgotten extremist appeals, which testify that aggressive actions towards South Ossetia never left the political agenda. We regard what is happening as an objective indicator of the state of modern Georgian society, and its real relation to South Ossetia and its inhabitants.
The reaction to the incident with Tatunashvili put everything in order. Today, Georgia blocks roads, openly threatens South Ossetia and Abkhazia, continues to impose absurd accusations of Russia's "occupation" and even calls for economic sanctions against other neighboring states.
With such a negative development, the peaceful declarations of the Georgian leadership, including the readiness to raise the level of their representation on international platforms for the sake of achieving a positive outcome of the talks, ceased to make any sense. There is a complete failure of the concept of "reconciliation" and good-neighborliness that Georgia has been replicating over the years.”
By Tom Day