Parastaev as Saakashvili’s “bullet” in information war

Today the press is savoring sensational accusations of ex Supreme Judge and ex Interior Minister of South Ossetia Alan Parastaev against the republic's president Edward Kokoyty. During the August events in Tskhinval Parastaev escaped from prison and was received in Tbilisi with open arms.

Alan Parastaev who was immediately appointed Deputy Minister for Probation, Penalty Execution and Legal Assistance in Georgia explained the reasons why he considered Edward Kokoyty "a terrorist and a bandit" in his interview with Imedi TV. He put all the blame for assassinations of political opponents - Oleg Alborov, the RSO Security Council Secretary, in particular - and explosions in South Ossetia (of which Georgia was accused later) on his ex boss. The renegade presented a detailed description how the South Ossetian government had been preparing for the war.

Allegedly the government brought arms from Russia illegally. Russian border guards were aware of the fact as well as military observers from Moscow, as Parastaev asserts.

The second part of Parastaev's accusations dealt with prosecutions he was subject to himself. In 2006 the RSO president allegedly demanded resignation of the Chairman of Supreme Court. Parastaev did not obey forcing the power structures to detain his son for intimidation. Then they arrested him on charge of terrorism and collaboration with Georgian special services. The ex Interior Minister says he was severely tortured and eventually the confession in preparation of Kokoyty assassination was beaten out of him. The attack of the Georgian army on Tskhinval was salvation for Parastaev.

As a response to Parastaev's exposures there is today's republication of an audio recording on Ossetian sites where ex Interior Minister of South Ossetia Alan Parastaev (Til) is arranging assassination of the RSO president Edward Kokoyty with an intermediary. Osinform remarks that the recording was done in 2006 and was found in the course of a journalist investigation. According to web browsers the transcript was made public on December 11 2008 by Osinform.

The interlocutors are discussing details of assault on "Jabelich" (president Kokoyty), his car color and the number of cars in the train. The only difficulty for the organizers was insufficiently high remuneration judging by their conversation. The recording also shows that the intermediary demands payment guarantee and his security after the assassination.

It is up to the South Ossetian justice to decide whether this audio recording is valid evidence of Parastaev's treason.

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