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South Ossetia wants Georgian president tried for war crimes

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The leader of South Ossetia has demanded Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili be tried in court as a war criminal for giving orders to attack the republic's capital, Tskhinvali.

MOSCOW, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - The leader of South Ossetia has demanded Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili be tried in court as a war criminal for giving orders to attack the republic's capital, Tskhinvali.

"Saakashvili is a criminal who should be sitting in prison and we will accomplish this," South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Friday.

He said the Georgian president is one of many people on a list of those who "organized the genocide of the Ossetian people."

Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia, after Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war last August. Georgian forces had attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control.

Kokoity said South Ossetia had started a criminal case against Saakashvili and others who had "organized aggression" against the republic's citizens, adding that this is considered an international crime and should be punished.

"As the person who was responsible, who gave the commands, who ordered the attack on Tskhinvali, who declared war on South Ossetia and along with his subordinates realized...the operation, [Saakashvili] will be charged with the crime."

When asked about Saakashvili suddenly making an appearance in South Ossetia, Kokoity said there was no chance of that happening.

"A rabbit cannot visit snow leopards because the outcome would be very sad. But if he were to show up, he would become easy prey for the snow leopard laying in wait," the president added.

He said South Ossetia would be a good neighbor to the Georgian people, but not the current government.

"We are not a vengeful people. One way or another, we will build normal, good neighborly and friendly relations with [our] neighboring country, but not with the current criminal regime, which we will prosecute," Kokoity said.

He also said South Ossetia intended to demand the return of its former territory, the Truso Gorge, which is currently a part of Georgia.

"We have serious territorial issues which have to be raised. And we will raise them. This is about the Truso Gorge, currently part of Georgia's Mtskheta-Mtianeti region - this is indigenously Ossetian land that for some unclear reason was transferred during Soviet times to the administrative control of the Georgian Soviet Republic."

The president said South Ossetia would start constructing border facilities on the 400-kilometer (250-mile) frontier with Georgia, despite Tbilisi's refusal to recognize South Ossetia's independence and participate in the demarcation of the border, which is currently controlled by Russian and South Ossetian border guards.

 

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