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The Guardian: â€œ131 Georgian civilians are being held captive in Tskhinvaliâ€

18 August 2008 11:35 (UTC +04:00)

Tskhinvali â€“ APA. More than 130 Georgian civilians are being held captive in Tskhinvali, writes British The Guardian, APA reports quoting Russian media. The newspaper writes that the 131 "hostages" are being held in a single room in the interior ministry headquarters in Tskhinvali. Roughly half of them are women and they include one 12-year-old girl. Most of them are Georgian "guest workers" who were living in the city when it was attacked on August 7. British media writes that the prisoners are being kept indefinitely in the hope of exchanging them for Ossetian civilians allegedly abducted by Georgian soldiers during the conflict. The authorities of the unrecognized republic did not refute the fact.
In Tskhinvali, Taymuraz Khugayev said that the captives were being held "according to the laws of war" to protect them from revenge attacks. He said he had attempted to agree a handover with international organisations and Georgian authorities but Tbilisi had refused to cooperate.
â€œWe estimate 500 Ossetian civilians were kidnapped and taken away by Georgian forces from the south of Tskhinvaliâ€ he said.