DECREE
ISSUED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA on Current
Situation in Shida Kartli
The
Ossetian separatists, having usurped power and enjoying vast support from the
troops of the Ministry of Interior of the USSR and
the Soviet Army, continue their anti-Constitutional and anti-State activities,
thereby undermining the territorial integrity and sovereign rights of the Republic of Georgia.
On
26 October 1991
a session of the Supreme
Council of the so called Republic of South Ossetia addressed issues relating to
change of the title of the Republic, creation of new structures of power,
adoption of constitution, endorsement of all the previously taken decisions on
joining Russia, introduction of state of emergency, general mobilization,
creation of Ossetian guard and other issues. Znaur Gasiev was elected at the
session first Deputy Chairman and acting Chairman of the Supreme Council of the
so-called Republic of South Ossetia.
It
is noteworthy, that at the session it was acknowledged that after a decision of
September
4 1991, which was taken by an illegal organ- Session
of Deputies of South Ossetia elected at all levels, a constitutional vacuum
prevailed in the region. This admission notwithstanding, the Ossetian
separatists active in Shida Kartli seek to fill this “constitutional vacuum”
with even more illegal, anti-constitutional actions. And the best proof of the
aforementioned is the Session of Supreme Council of the so-called Republic of
South Ossetia and decisions taken at the session.In accordance with the Law of
the Republic of Georgia on “State of Emergency” and recent decisions taken by
the highest state authorities of the Republic of Georgia, there is no legal
basis for deployment of Troops of the Ministry of Interior of USSR and
detachments of the Soviet Army on the territory of Shida Kartli, moreover,
their presence in the region represents one of the major factors of
destabilization any hostile activities directed against Republic of Georgia.In
order to guarantee the sovereignty, state security and territorial integrity of
the Republic of Georgia and pursuant to Article 121 Paragraph 2 of the Republic
of Georgia,
I decree:
To
declare invalidated and legally null and void the decision taken on 26 November
1991 by the anti-constitutional and anti-state institution - Session of the Supreme Council of the
so-called Republic of South Ossetia.
The
Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Georgia shall undertake all necessary measures against those who created an
anti-constitutional organization aiming at undermining sovereignty of the Republic of Georgia and
cessation of the region from the Republic of Georgia.
To demand from the competent bodies of the USSR immediate withdrawal from the territory of the Republic of Georgia of Troops of the Ministry of Interior and
detachments of the Soviet Army deployed in Shida Kartli.
President of the Republic of Georgia Zviad
Gamsakhurdia
2 December 1991
(Bulletin of the Supreme Council of the Republic of
Georgia, 1991, # 12, p. 5-6)