EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) is “trying hard to find out the details” involving arrest of a South Ossetian man by the Georgian police on January 4, Hansjörg Haber, head of EUMM said on Wednesday.

“So far, the picture is unclear with conflicting reports of what exactly happened,” he said, adding that the mission was looking into “what can be done to resolve the situation in the interests of all concerned.”

The Georgian Interior Ministry said that the police detained Genadi Pliev, who was described as “a member of [South] Ossetian illegal gang”, in Nikozi, the village close to the breakaway region’s administrative border. It said that Pliev was armed with a firearm and hand-grenades.

But the breakaway region’s authorities said that Pliev, who they said was “an employee of the state guard service”, was “kidnapped” by the Georgian police from Tskhinvali outskirts, “about 400-500 meters deeper from the South Ossetian state border.”
 
“We will continue to look into this [case] in the coming days,” Haber said in a written statement.

“Meanwhile, this case, following recent cases of detentions on both sides of the administrative boundary line, raises wider issues concerning freedom of movement, security, and detainees.”

“Ultimately, with goodwill, detainees on both sides should be able to return to their homes,” he added.

Haber called on Tbilisi and Tskhinvali to hold a meeting in frames of Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism early next week to address these issues.

On January 5 monitors from EUMM paid their first ever visit to Tskhinvali to discuss issues related with detention of Genadi Pliev. Monitors also visited the spot where the breakaway region’s authorities alleged Pliev’s detention took place.