Authorities Plan to Confiscate Abandoned Houses in Tskhinvali

Authorities in the breakaway Republic of South Ossetia plan to confiscate abandoned apartments in the capital of Tskhinvali and use them to house Ossetian refugees who were forced to flee other parts of Georgia during the conflict of the early 90’s, acting chief of the Tskhinvali administration Vadim Tskhovrebov told Regnum news agency on August 8.

He said that the unrecognized republic?s Parliament and President?s administration, in cooperation with the Tskhinvali city administration have developed a draft law according to which if a person who claims ownership of a house does not appear before an as-of-yet unspecified deadline, the house will be confiscated and handed over to an Ossetian refugee. He said that the process of conducting an inventory of these apartments is underway.

When asked what will happen to apartments which belonged to ethnic Georgians who were forced to flee Tskhinvali after the armed conflict in early 90’s, Tskhovrebov said: ?Citizens of any ethnicity are equal for us; we do not make a dividing line between Ossetians and Georgians. The laws are equally applied to Ossetians and Georgians in South Ossetia.?

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