ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
August 25, 2004 Wednesday 7:28 AM Eastern Time

Georgian policemen said to commit outrages in South Ossetia

By Sergei Ostanin, Alexander Kharchenko

TSKHINVALI

The command of collective peacekeeping forces has sent to the Joint
Control Commission a letter about “outrages of policemen of Georgia’s
units in the area of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict”

A member of the command’s staff told Itar-Tass on Wednesday that
“Georgian policemen engage in money extortion on the road
Kekhvi-Tskhinvali in residential areas Kurta and Eredvi, unlawfully
detain citizens of Russia, Armenia and other CIS countries travelling
on the territory of South Ossetia and beat taxi drivers”.

Fifteen people have sent complaints to the command of the
peacekeepers.

In particular, Georgian police stopped two residents of Tskhinvali at
the Kekhvi checkpost last night.

Seizing their documents, the policemen demanded 1,000 roubles from
each.

The detained people had no money, and the policemen began to beat
them.

Russian peacekeepers who were staying not far interfered and stopped
the beating.