Sozar Subeliani, Georgia’s Ombudsman, and Mikheil Kareli, the Governor of Shida Kartli, the region which also includes the South Ossetian conflict zone, exchanged strong-worded criticism, which was triggered after the Ombudsman slammed the authorities for the detention of five buses containing around two hundred Georgian citizens.

On October 31 the Governor of Shida Kartli accused the Ombudsman of “having certain personal interests” while protecting the rights of passengers, who, as the Governor put it, “enrich South Ossetian separatists” by crossing the South Ossetian section of Russo-Georgian border.

In response Subeliani said in an interview to Mze television on November 1 that Shida Kartli Governor Mikheil Kareli “would better deal with those who have personal interest in contraband, which still exists” in the conflict zone. In summer, the Georgian authorities announced the curbing of smuggling after closing down a major black market in the village of Ergneti, which is in the South Ossetian conflict area. 

The Georgian authorities where motivated in their decision to block the entry of the passengers by saying they entered Georgia through the Roki Tunnel, which links breakaway South Ossetian with the Russian Federation, and which is out of the Georgian authorities’ control. Officials in Tbilisi try to direct all traffic between Georgia and Russia via Larsi, which is the only land checkpoint at the Russian border controlled by the Georgian authorities.

Later on November 1, reports claimed that the buses were given entry; however they were escorted by police to the town of Gori, as officials said, “probe passengers.”

Georgian Security Minister Vano Merabishvili told reporters on November 1 that those drivers who crossed the border at the South Ossetian section “must be punished very severely.”

Interior Minister Irakli Okruashvili also warned on November 1 that the authorities will block everyone who tries to cross the Russo-Georgian border via the breakaway region. “I advise everyone to refrain from this,” he added.

“The money which is given to the South Ossetian separatists [for using Roki Tunnel] is a new wave of bullets against the Georgian villages,” Interior Minister Irakli Okruashvili told reporters.

But the Georgian Ombudsman says that barring Georgian citizens from entry is a violation of the country’s constitution, particularly freedom of movement of provisions. “This is nothing more than full ignorance of the law and violation of the Georgian constitution,” Sozar Subeliani told reporters on October 31.