South Ossetia's Supreme Court chairman and the breakaway republic's prosecutor general are resigning as part of a deal with the opposition, acting parliamentary speaker Zurab Kokoyev told RIA Novosti on Saturday.
President Eduard Kokoity has submitted to parliament the resignations of Supreme Court Chairman Atsamaz Bichenov and Prosecutor General Taimuraz Khugayev.
"We have just received the documents," Kokoyev said in Saturday afternoon, adding that the parliament will likely take up the matter on Monday.
President Kokoity is expected to announce his own resignation later on Saturday. Lawmakers and members of the public are currently gathering at the government building for the president's scheduled address to the nation.
Kokoity has agreed to step down as part of a deal with opposition leader and former presidential candidate Alla Dzhioyeva.
The situation in restive South Ossetia, a self-proclaimed republic in Georgia, heated up after Dzhioyeva won the November 27 runoff against a Kremlin-backed rival, according to preliminary results. Two days later, the republic's Supreme Court annulled the voting results, citing violations.
Supporters of Dzhioyeva, who has declared herself president despite the court’s ruling, have been holding demonstrations on the main square of the republic’s capital, Tskhinvali, ever since.
In exchange for Kokoity’s resignation, Dzhioyeva has agreed to urge her supporters to go home.
Prime Minister Vadim Brovtsev has been appointed acting president to head the republic until new presidential elections, which will be held on March 25.
