MP Akaki Minashvili of the ruling party criticized Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, for "being inactive" in respect of four Georgian teenagers, who remain held in Tskhinvali since November 4.

“This person [Hammarberg] is doing nothing; he is totally inactive. Such action, first of all, harms the Council of Europe and questions its reliability,” MP Minashvili, who chairs parliamentary committee for foreign affairs, said at the parliament’s session on November 20. “Urgent reaction is needed to ensure that either this person [referring to Hammarberg] takes reaction or he should be replaced.”

He said that in all those cases, which regard Russia, “this person always prefers to take abstaining position.”

Parliamentary Chairman David Bakradze said that Thomas Hammarberg’s inaction naturally triggers “negative assessments.”      

“It should not be seen as if Georgia is interested in confrontation with the Council of Europe or Commissioner for Human Rights, but we should understand that it is a test – if the Council of Europe, Mr. Hammarberg  or his colleagues want to have a trust… this case really is a test, wherein everybody should spare no efforts,” Bakradze said.

MP Giorgi Targamadze, leader of parliamentary minority and Christian-Democratic Movement (CDM), called on the European Union “to intensify its activities” to help secure release of four Georgian teenagers. He also said the CoE human rights commissioner “should be stricter about the situation involving the minors.”

Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland and Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Samuel Žbogar said in a joint statement issued on November 16 that the Council of Europe expressed its deep concern over “prolonged detention” of Georgian teenagers and called for their immediate release.

Similar statement was made by Mátyás Eörsi and Luc Van den Brande, co-rapporteurs of PACE for the war between Georgia and Russia, on November 18. “The arrest and prolonged detention of these young people will only increase the tensions and bad blood between the people in this bitterly divided region,” they said.