Tbilisi Refutes ‘War Crime’ Claims
BBC reported on October 28 that it had obtained evidence suggesting Georgia used indiscriminate force and may have targeted civilians in South Ossetia during the August war. BBC also reported that during its first unrestricted visit to the region, it had also seen homes in ethnic Georgian villages “not just burned by Ossetians, but also bulldozed.”
“We strongly deny any accusation of war crimes; but of course, we are very open for any kind of comments, we are very open for any kind of investigation,” President Saakashvili told BBC. “We called for the international investigation into conduct of this war, in the conditions leading to this war, into circumstances leading to this invasion.”
“When you are talking about indiscriminate use of fire, we have clear-cut evidence that town of Tskhinvali was shelled from dozens and maybe hundred [of times] – but dozens we can prove at this moment with video footage as well as documentary evidence from the Russian army and from the Russian journalists indeed – by the Russian troops for several days.”
“There were certainly war crimes committed, certainly not by us and certainly we want investigation of those war crimes; we demand that that people who are responsible for those war crimes are brought to international justice,” Saakashvili added.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told BBC that during his visit to Georgia he had raised “the questions that have been asked and raised about war crimes and other military actions by the Georgian authorities… We have acted in this without fear, without favour.”
“I think the Georgian action was reckless, I think the Russian response was disproportionate and wrong… It’s important that the Russian narrative cannot start with Georgian actions; it has to start with the attacks on the Georgians from the South Ossetians and that is the tit-for-tat that got out of control. And that is the series of events that have landed us where we are.”
BBC also reported that houses burnt in ethnic Georgian villages in the breakaway region “are now expected to be replaced by a brand-new housing complex with a cinema and sports facilities to be financed by the city of Moscow.”
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
