Press Releases

EUMM CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON POLICE OFFICERS NEAR DVANI

29.03.2009

This morning at around 9 a.m. an explosion took place north of Dvani, in the vicinity of the South Ossetian administrative boundary line. One Georgian police car carrying five officers was hit. One person died, the other four were injured. A second explosion occurred at the same spot when a response team arrived and injured another two police officers.

The Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM), Ambassador Hansjörg Haber, condemned the incident:

“We are very concerned by today’s explosions. The whole set-up of the incident is very worrying. According to initial investigations, the first explosion seems to have been triggered by a trip wire. Thus, attackers did not discriminate between potential victims, but any car could have been hit. It is an abominable act that the second explosion obviously targeted the people coming to help the victims of the first one.

This attack, whilst policemen were going about their lawful duties, is a totally unacceptable breach of the Sarkozy–Medvedev Agreements. We expect this incident to be thoroughly investigated on both sides of the South Ossetian Administrative Boundary line and those responsible duly prosecuted.

We send our condolences to the family and friends of the policeman who has been killed and wish the injured police officers a swift recovery.”

Dvani has repeatedly been the location of incidents. Today’s incident may thus further increase tensions. Therefore, the quick implementation of the Incident Prevention Mechanism approved during the last round of Geneva Talks becomes even more important to prevent this kind of incidents and decrease tensions.

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