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April 01, 2006

Georgia Detains South Ossetian Officials

The South Ossetian border in early February (ITAR-TASS)

April 1, 2006 -- Georgian authorities say they have detained a South Ossetian separatist official on suspicion of smuggling cigarettes.

Vazha Khachapuridze was detained today near the village of Ergneti, in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone.


Khachapuridze is a close aide to South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity.


Also today, the South Ossetian leadership said in a statement that Georgian counterintelligence officers briefly detained Deputy Interior Minister Khazbi Guliyev on March 31. The incident took place near the Georgian town of Khashuri, where Guliyev was reportedly on a mission agreed upon with regional police.


South Ossetia forcibly won de facto independence from Georgia in the early 1990s.


(Civil Georgia, Novosti-Gruziya, Imedi TV)


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