Levan Kutashvili and Iosif Pavliashvili return to Georgia

Levan Kutashvili and Iosif Pavliashvili, detained together with Archil Tatunashvili in South Ossetia, returned to the territory of Georgia on March 11. The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reported that the men's bodies did not bear any signs of torture.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 22, Levan Kutashvili and Iosif (Ioseb) Pavliashvili were detained together with Archil Tatunashvili and taken to a prison in Tskhinvali. On February 23, Archil Tatunashvili died in a hospital in Tskhinvali. Georgia accused Russia of his death and demanded to transfer the body of the deceased man to his relatives. However, so far, it has not been done. On February 24 Georgian law enforcers stated that the other two men were released from jail, but stay in South Ossetia.

In the evening on March 11, the Georgian media reported that Levan Kutashvili and Iosif Pavliashvili were allowed to leave South Ossetia.

Kakhaber Sabanadze, First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, reported that Levan Kutashvili and Iosif Pavliashvili had no signs of physical violence on their bodies.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the State Security Service and other public institutions, has done its utmost to free young people in due time, Kakha Sabanadze noted. Meanwhile, according to him, the date of transfer of the Archil Tatunashvili's body is still unknown.

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