Bibilov: Hysteria Around Georgian’s Death Is Down to Pre-Election Struggle

The so-called President of the occupied South Ossetia region Anatoly Bibilov said in an interview this week that the hysteria surrounding the death of Georgian citizen Archil Tatunashvili was down to Georgia’s pre-election “struggle.”

"Today in Georgia, there is an acute political struggle ahead of the presidential elections, various political forces are trying to earn points through populist statements and actions, and we know that in the case of our neighbors, such points are easiest to make on the theme of nationalism, revanchist statements and ethnic hatred,” he said.

According to him, another source of unfolding hysteria is the western curators of Georgia, who are voicing words of human rights organizations to represent South Ossetia as an "occupied region", where human rights are systematically violated. "No real violations of the fundamental rights are of interest to them, otherwise they would raise their voices in those cases when, after the detention by the Georgian police, our citizens, including minors, disappeared, and there is undeniable evidence," Bibilov stressed.

He recalled that the Western media and international and human rights organizations never held a campaign to condemn the numerous killings of Ossetians and the genocide of the Ossetian people.

According to him, the main purpose of the information attack, first of all, is Russia, which Western politicians try to present as an aggressor and occupier.

Tatunashvili died on February 23 after being detained by the so-called Tskhinvali Security Service. Local media reported that Tatunashvili was detained for "cooperating with Georgian law enforcers and participating in the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.”

By Tom Day