Georgia condemns jailing of teens in South Ossetia

Georgia lashed out at its rebel South Ossetia region yesterday after it jailed two Georgian teenagers despite an apparent deal to swap prisoners, but a European envoy said they would be pardoned soon.

The 16- and 17-year-olds were sentenced to one year in prison after being convicted of illegally entering Russian-backed South Ossetia armed with explosives.

Two others aged 14 were released.

A spate of detentions on the poorly-defined boundary has strained tensions more than a year since Russia crushed a Georgian assault on pro-Moscow South Ossetia in a five-day war that rocked the Caucasus, an energy transit region to the West.

Hours before the court hearing in the rebel capital Tskhinvali, pro-Western Georgia freed five South Ossetians held under police guard in a house in the garrison town of Gori since August when an earlier prisoner exchange collapsed.

Georgian broadcast media were silent on the handover, and Georgian officials bristled at talk of a prisoner exchange.

They reacted angrily when news broke that two of the teenagers had been jailed, after days of shuttle mediation by Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg.

"The President hails the release of two children, but is outraged by the inhuman decision to keep two others in custody," said Manana Manjgaladze, spokesman for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Mr Hammarberg said South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity had assured him the two jailed Georgians would be freed in 10 days.

"I have a very firm undertaking by the leadership there that if 10 days pass, and there is no appeal to a higher court, and I'm assuming the boys won't appeal, he will pardon them and they will be released," he told reporters on the de facto border.

South Ossetia's official website said he had refused to leave Tskhinvali without all four.