Archil Tatunashvili’s body will be handed over to the Georgian side after the independent forensic examination is conducted on the territory of the Russian Federation, – Murat Jioyev, representative of the de-facto president of the occupied Tskhinvali region, was quoted as saying by the Res agency.

According to him, the South Ossetian side offers sympathy to Tatunashvili’s family and relatives and notes that his death is a tragedy despite the questions of the “South Ossetian” law enforcement bodies with regard to Tatunashvili’s activities.

“As it is already known, his death was caused by a heart problem. This was confirmed by our preliminary examination. We have now sent our examination materials to independent experts,” said Jioyev.

According to him, the body of the deceased, as well as the copies of examination results, will be handed over to Georgia. He said that every side should try “not to politicize Tatunashvili’s death and not to complicate the already tensioned relations between Tskhinvali and Georgia”.

As for the two other detained Georgian citizens, Jioyev said: “They were released on Saturday and now they are at their homes in Leningrad, but as the investigating authorities have questions with them, they will temporarily remain on the territory of the republic and after that they will be handed over to the Georgian side.”