19 January 2005, 23:59
Policemen do not hide implication in assault against journalist
Sarmat Parastayev, a brother of director of the Center for Humanitarian Studies Alan Parastayev taken to the Gudushuari medical center in Tbilisi, Georgia, has reported that Alan was beaten by officers of the South Osetian Interior Ministry. "Both doctors and a nurse told me that Alan was delivered to the hospital by officers of the South Osetian Interior Ministry, who did not hide that those were they who had beaten my brother," Alan Parastayev's brother said to the Caucasian Knot correspondent.
According to Sarmat Parastayev's information, Alan approached a column with goods for Georgian villages of the republic detained in the capital of South Osetia and showed interest in what was happening. "According to some reports, they did not talk to him at all and struck him at once. An officer of the South Osetian special fast response unit told it. Other sources say that Alan Parastayev asked why the column had been allowed in Tskhinvali, but wasn't allowed to go farther. This question produced such a reaction on the part of officers of security agencies that they beat him," the journalist's brother said.
Sarmat Parastayev holds that such an outcome of the developments was to be expected. "It had to happen with someone of us. The entire activity of Alan, our friends, and our family had led to that. I'm not afraid to state that we develop civil society and democracy in South Osetia," he explained.
Author: Svetlana Biryukova, CK correspondent
