TBILISI. Dec 10 (Interfax) - The Georgian Foreign Ministry urged the international community on Thursday to react to what it said were fresh violations of the rights of ethnic Georgians in the Tskhinvali district and to condemn South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity's decision to strip Georgian residents of the Akhalgori district of their ownership rights to land and immovable property.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Georgian ministry accused Russia of "continuing the policy of ethnic cleansings on the occupied territory".
The ministry alleges that the Tskhinvali authorities are being fully controlled by Russia and that "the above actions will mount tension in the Akhalgori district, hampering international efforts to restore stability".
No reaction from the Ossetian side to the allegations has been immediately available.
As reported earlier, South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity decreed on Tuesday that ownership certificates for houses and land plots in the Leningori district (Akhalgori district for Georgia), issued by the Georgian authorities from 1991 to 2008, were invalid.
The decree aims at restoring the rights of South Ossetian citizens who were forcibly displaced by the Georgian authorities from the Leninogori district and at bringing refuges and displaced persons back to their homes, a source in the presidential administration has told Interfax.