Omon riot police seizes staff of S Ossetia's oppositionist

TSHINVAL, February 9 (Itar-Tass) — A unit of the Omon riot police stormed the staff of South Ossetia's major oppositionist politician and former candidate for presidency, Alla Dzhioyeva, Thursday night and took the facility under its control.

Eyewitnesses of the Omon operation said the whole block of apartment buildings, including a private household where the staff is located, was sealed off at the time of reporting.

Outside the building, the police were trying to disperse Dzhioyeva's supporters who were inside when the storming began.

It was not exactly clear where Dzhioyeva herself was staying. Eyewitnesses claimed she was on the verge of fainting at the moment that the Omon fighters broke into the house but whether she was taken to hospital or to an interview with investigators was not clear.

Dzhioyeva's supporters hoped to hold a ceremony of her inauguration as President of the Republic of South Ossetia Friday. They motivated their plans by saying the former President of the young South Caucasian nation, Eduard Kokoity had failed to observe the terms of an agreement Dhioyeva and he had signed with the Russian government's mediation.

South Ossetian law enforcement agencies said earlier they would not admit any unlawful actions capble of destabilizing the situation in the runup to runoff presidential election scheduled for March 25.

Wednesday, a group of Russian reporters who planned to cover Dzhioyeva's inauguration, was not allowed to cross the border into South Ossetia.

In the meantime, the country's Office of the Prosecutor General refuted the reports alleging that Dhioyeva had been arrested.

Deputy Prosecutor General Georgy Kabulov said Dzhioyeva had been summoned to the Prosecutor's Office Thursday in connection with a criminal case in which she is a witness.