TV crews from Rustavi 2 and Mze television stations have been released by the South Ossetian side after several hours of detention on August 27.

Six people – three from each crew, a journalist, cameraman and driver – were arrested near the South Ossetian-controlled village of Tsinagari.

Maka Gigauri, a journalist from Mze TV said, she had been interrogated by South Ossetian militiamen asking what the TV crew was doing in the conflict zone.

The journalists were sent to the South Ossetian conflict zone to cover a story about the detention of three other Georgian citizens, including a 13 year old boy, by the South Ossetian side. The three were released on August 27.

“I guarantee that those behind [both of] these detentions will be punished,” Vano Merabishvili, the interior minister, told reporters on August 28.