Occupied Tskhinvali Says They Draft Sanctioned People’s List
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, June 29
The de facto leadership of the eastern occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region of Georgia claims that they are drafting a list which will include the people who have violated the rights of Ossetian people since 1992.
The decision was taken after the government of Georgia approved the 33-member list of the individuals, known as the Otkhozoria-Tatunashvili list, who have murdered, tortured or violated the rights of Georgian nationals since 1992.
Tskhinvali could not say how they will hold the people in the list accountable for their offences, as the region is only recognized as an independent state by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria.
The de facto lawmaker of Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region Petre Gasiev says that the list will be made public soon.
“The list provided by us will be named after Grigory Sanakoev, who was brutally killed by Georgians in 1992,” said Gassiev.
He stated that the Ossetian people have become the victims of genocide by the government of Georgia twice and that the decisions made by the central government of Georgia on Tskhinvali are “absurd.”
The list approved by the Georgian government now needs to be confirmed by the parliament. The list is named after the Georgian citizens Giga Otkhozoria and Archil Tatunashvili who were killed by Russia-controlled people in Tskhinvali in 2015 and 2018.
The Georgian Dream majority says that the list is expected to expand, while the parliamentary opposition has grilled the government for inclusion of two dead individuals in the list.
The opposition also demanded the list to include Russian citizens, who “at least conceal the crimes” committed against Georgian citizens.
The Georgian Dream government members say that any list provided by the de facto leaderships of the occupied regions will be illegitimate.
The Russo-Georgian 2008 War was a war between Georgia, Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The war displaced 192,000 people and while many returned to their homes after the war, 20,272 people, mostly ethnic Georgians, remained displaced.
35 Georgians and 6 Ossetians remain missing since the war.
The so –called Russia-controlled border guards frequently detain the Georgian citizens for “illegal crossing of border,” restrict the free movement of locals, destroy the houses of the Georgian population or commit other types of violations against ethnic Georgians.
Several case of kidnaping of Georgian citizens saw fatal end. Such cases remain uninvestigated and offenders unpunished, as the de facto leadership of the occupied territories refuse to do this.
