Tskhinval/Agency Caucasus – Georgia released on a ransom of $3 000 the last two of four Ossetians that it took hostage on July 20 on charges of smuggling drugs within the buffer zone.
The first two of four Ossetians were released one day after they were taken hostage at a checkpoint near the village of Eredvi while en route from the Georgian village of Gori. The Ossetian administration dismissed the charges brought against the four kidnapped Ossetians as being fraudulent. It argued that the Ossetians were taken hostage by the Georgian security officers.
The wife of Soslan Siukayev, one of the ransomed hostages, said that her husband was forced to testify that he smuggled drugs. "Soslan does not have anything to do with drugs. He is educated, works as a lawyer, and is a professor at State University of South Ossetia. How can he be involved in smuggling drugs," she asked.
Guram Sanakoyev, who was released on July 21, recounted what happened to him: "We were summoned from our own taxi to help those who were injured in a traffic accident at the Georgian checkpoint in Eredvi. We were told that we were needed for help because the injured could only speak the Ossetian language. But we were first taken to the headquarters and to the police station in Gori. We were told that we were involved in drug trafficking. Although I tried to say that something should be mistaken, they did not listen to me. They asked me if I had an Ossetian or Russian passport. And many more questions… They kept me at the police station that night. Neither my wife nor my children knew where we were kept. We were not even allowed to make a phone call."
KU/ÖZ/FT
