South Ossetia reports kidnapping border villager

A resident of the village of Zardiantkar, located on the border with Georgia, was kidnapped right from his garden, the office of the plenipotentiary representative of the President of South Ossetia for post-conflict settlement has reported.

According to the South-Ossetian party, in the evening on April 11, the 60-year-old Zurab Valiev was forced into a car in the eyes of his fellow villagers, presumably by Georgian policemen and taken to Georgia.

"The citizen of South Ossetia was kidnapped from the territory of his land plot, where he was present legally. We have informed the mission of international observers of the European Union (EU) in Georgia via the hotline, but so far we have no exact information about our citizen's fate and whereabouts," a source from the above plenipotentiary's office told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He has explained that, since the village of Zardiantkar is located on the border with Georgia and, in some places, villagers' gardens are located partially in the territory of Georgia; a special border crossing schedule has been drafted for local residents. According to this schedule, villagers can pass to their gardens, by presenting their South-Ossetian passports to border guards.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 11, 2019 at 09:23 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.