Chairman of the “Union of the Ossetians of Georgia” might be convicted for “smuggling”

The Chairman of the Tbilsi NGO “The Union of the Ossetians of Georgia” Merab Gazzashvili might be convicted for smuggling. This information came to the South Ossetian part of JCC.

In October 2006 at the request of the “Union of the Ossetians of Georgia’ the Education Ministry of South Ossetia handed over the set of school textbooks of the Ossetian language for the Ossetian children living in Georgia.

However the Georgian authorities confiscated the textbooks during their carriage from South Ossetia to Gori, and up to present they are being kept at the police station in Gori.

All attempts of the South Ossetian side to draw attention of the international community to this flagrant violation of human rights as well as numerous letters and statements of the Interior Ministry of South Ossetia and South Ossetian part of JCC addressing the Embassies accredited in Georgia and international organizations remained unanswered. And possibly that was the reason why the Georgian authorities act like that.

At present legal proceedings were instituted against the Head of the “Union of the Ossetians” Merab Gazzashvili. Very soon he will be brought before the court on charges of carriage of smuggling to Georgia. Under the “smuggling” the Georgian authorities imply children books of the Ossetian language.