Body of Georgian national who died in South Ossetia released to his family

Moreover, some Georgian media outlets have cited close relatives of Tatunashvili as saying that a finger was missing from one of his hands. This information has not been officially confirmed.

The de-facto authorities of South Ossetia refused to hand over the body of Tatunashvili to his family for 26 days. Tatunashvili, who served on a peace-keeping mission in Iraq back in 2008, was detained on 22 February in Daba Akhalgori by representatives of the occupation regime.

On 23 February, the de-facto state security service of South Ossetia released a statement saying that police escorts had had to use force against Tatunashvili after he’d put up resistance to them and tried to snatch the gun of one of them. In the ensuing scuffle, they said Tatunashvili fell down the stairs and later died of a heart failure in a Tskhinvali hospital.

The man’s family do not believe this account to be true and are convinced that he was murdered. The Georgian authorities also doubt the accuracy of this account and believe that the release of his body has been procrastinated for so long because traces of torture were visible on his body.