On December 30, officials of the Georgian State Security Service (SSS) provided information to the elders of the Pankisi Gorge about the links of the persons detained in the recent counterterrorist operation (CTO) with terrorists.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 26, five Georgian citizens were detained after the CTO conducted in the villages of Omalo and Duisi in the Pankisi Gorge. Four of them were charged with supporting terrorism and arrested. According to law enforcers, one of the detainees is suspected of aiding and abetting Akhmed Chataev, who was killed in a special operation in Tbilisi.

The meeting of 10 elders of the Pankisi Gorge with the Governor of Kakheti and SSS officials took place on December 30 in Telavi.

"We’ve presented our position; they’ve presented theirs. We have our own opinion about the CTO, and, of course, the state has its own. We said that we want the CTO case to be investigated promptly and objectively," Elizbar Margoshvili, a member of the Council of Elders of the Pankisi Gorge, said on the air of "Public Broadcaster of Georgia".

According to the Governor Irakli Kadagishvili, the elders received information, including audio and video records, confirming "detainees’ links with a terrorist grouping."

"We provided them with the correct information about the December 26 CTO, because there are many versions; and it was necessary to present the true one so as to avoid confrontation based on incorrect information," the Georgia-Online quotes Mr Kadagishvili as saying.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.