In Ergneti, Georgian delegation demands to give out Tatunashvili's body

Representatives of Georgia have left the today's meeting in the border village of Ergneti in protest, as the South Ossetian side has refused to disclose the date of the transfer of Archil Tatunashvili's body to his family.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Archil Tatunashvili, a 35-year-old citizen of Georgia, who was detained by South-Ossetian law enforcers on February 22, died in Tskhinvali's hospital at night on February 23. His acute cardiac insufficiency was preliminarily declared as the cause of his death. Levan Kutashvili and Ioseb Pavliashvili, who had been detained together with Archil Tatunashvili, were released from custody. Meanwhile, they still stay in the territory of South Ossetia.

The Georgian side has left the today's sitting within the format of the Mechanism for Preventing and Responding to Incidents (MPRI) , as it failed to receive a clear answer to the two questions raised in connection with the Tatunashvili's case: on the delivery of the body of the deceased to his relatives, and on the transfer to Georgia of the two persons detained with him, said Kakhaber Kemoklidze, the deputy head of the information-analytical division of the State Security Service (SSS) of Georgia.

According to Mr Kemoklidze, the South-Ossetian side insisted on their previous attitude: the body of Archil Tatunashvili will be given out to his family after they receive an answer from the Russian forensic examination bureau. However, they failed to specify when this may happen, the "Georgia-Online" has reported today.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.