Protest Rally Demanding Release of Fatima Margieva Held in Tskhinvali

The rally was planned few days ahead, Tskhinvali-based journalist Temur Tskovrebov, the 21st Century newspaper publisher had notified the local authorities too but a day earlier, on February 4 holding the rally was put under question since following the Margieva's court trial the rally organizer disappeared for a few hours, and a stranger was answering her cell phone.

Temur Tskhovrebov's friends set an alarm and started looking for him. From their viewpoint Tskhovrebov was detained by the security service demanding the cancellation of the rally. Later on, having got back home Tskhovrebov said his cell phone was out of order. He didn't clarify where he had been missing for five hours. Tskhovrebov's friends informed the Media.ge correspondent of the issue. They didn't expect the rally to be held but a small-scale one was held today in Tskhinvali. The rally was also attended by Ossetian human rights watchdog Besarion Aseev having pointed out that the authorities first brought deminers to the railway station and then deployed militia to avoid excesses.

The court trial on Fatima Margieva launched in Tskhinvali on February 4 was put off for a week. The defendant requested to evade the local lawyer and hire a Russian attorney. The court satisfied her application. Margieva was detained on February 18 for illegally keeping the gun. Due to her opposition work the detainee considers herself as a political prisoner. The Tskhinvali University pedagogue would voice her open criticism against Eduard Kokoity, leader of the breakaway South Ossetia, accusing him of the embezzlement of the Russian financial aid. Human rights watchdogs and NGO representatives in Tskhinvali as well as in Vladikavkaz set up an ad hoc committee demanding the release of Margieva and started collecting supporters' signatures. They sent an appeal to the President of Russia and Russian human rights organizations for help. In the texts of the appeal Eduard Kokoity is named as dictator and tyrant, applying repressions against dissenters.

In the course of the trial Margieva cast doubts on the competence of Albina Gazaeva, the lawyer appointed by the Kokoity government, having named her as a lawyer with forged diploma. According to the Ossetian news agency Osinfo Gazaeva is going to sue Margieva for humiliating her self-esteem and dignity. Margieva is to wait for the attorney to arrive from Russia. The invited lawyer's accreditation procedure, Besarion Aseev said, is to take a long while; hence from his point of view Margieva's case is not going to end on March 11.