Amnesty International Slams All Parties over War Conduct

Amnesty International said in its report that information gathered on the ground by its representatives strongly suggested that “serious violations of international humanitarian law were committed by all parties” during the August war.

“Amnesty International is particularly concerned by apparent indiscriminate attacks resulting in civilian deaths and injuries and considerable damage to civilian objects, such as schools, hospitals and houses, and a small number of other incidents suggesting that civilians may have been directly targeted,” rights group said in the 69-page report released on November 18.

The report – Civilians in the line of fire: The Georgia/Russia conflict – was drawn up based on the direct observation by the groups’ representatives of destruction in Tskhinvali, Gori and some, but not all, of the surrounding Georgian and Ossetian villages, as well as interviews with civilians caught up in the conflict.

The report, however, also notes that further investigation and disclosure by all parties of information “is urgently required before any definitive conclusions can be reached regarding the nature and degree of responsibility of those engaged in, or directing, military operations.”

The report says that the war was “characterized from the outset by misinformation, exaggeration in reports of the scale of fighting and numbers of casualties and sometimes wildly conflicting accounts of the same events.”

It notes that although initially the Russian and South Ossetian officials reported that number of civilians killed in Tskhinvali was from up to 1,500 to 2,000, later the Russian sources “dramatically reduced” the number of casualties. The report says that in an interview with the Amnesty International on October 12, the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Office of the General Prosecutor said that 159 civilian deaths had been registered to date.
 
According to the report much of the destruction in Tskhinvali was caused by GRADLAR MLRS (GRAD) launched rockets, “which are known to be difficult to direct with any great precision.” It says that evidence gathered on the ground suggested that the Georgian forces “committed indiscriminate attacks” in its assault on Tskhinvali on the night of August 7.

According to the Georgian authorities GRAD rockets were used to target three locations inside Tskhinvali.

According to the information provided by the Georgian government to the Amnesty International, the first of these targets was Verkhny Gorodok, a southern outskirts of the breakaway region, where Russian peacekeepers were based. The Georgian authorities have claimed that artillery was being fired from that area despite repeated warnings to the Russian peacekeepers not to allow their positions to be used for attacks.

According to the same information GRAD rockets were used to target stockpiles of munitions and fuel depots in the western part of Tskhinvali and military barracks in the northwest of the town.

“Whilst these areas are all on the periphery of Tskhinvali they are all adjacent to built up civilian areas,” the report reads. “Many missiles that missed their target consequently landed in civilian areas causing considerable damage to private houses and resulting in numerous civilian casualties.”

Although the report notes that South Ossetian forces may have violated the Geneva Convention by locating military installations within or near densely populated areas, “Amnesty International is concerned that the Georgian forces may have selected targets in areas with large numbers of civilians on the basis of outdated and imprecise intelligence and failed to take necessary measures to verify that their information was accurate before launching their attacks.”

Through an analysis of satellite imagery Amnesty International identified a total of 182 damaged structures in Tskhinvali. It suggested that bulk of the destruction in the town occurred during the initial shelling of Tskhinvali by Georgian forces.

As far as the Russian attack is concerned, the report cites information provided by the Georgian authorities saying that there were more than 75 aerial bombardments of Georgian territory by Russian air forces, including areas where there had previously been no fighting.

“As with the Georgian bombardment of Tskhinvali and the surrounding Ossetian villages, the Russian bombardment of populated areas could not be described as blanket bombing,” the report reads. “Most of the bombing would appear to have targeted Georgian military positions outside built up areas.”

But the report also says that there have been cases when “civilians and civilian objects were struck by aerial and missile attacks in the apparent absence of nearby military targets.”

Amnesty International said that it had requested the Russian authorities to provide information about the intended targets of these attacks, but the reply of the Russian side, it said, did not address these specific concerns.

Based on interviews with the Georgian displaced persons, the report said that Russian soldiers “had, on the whole, conducted themselves in a disciplined and orderly fashion with regard to Georgian civilians.”

But the group expressed concern about the reports “of Russian forces looking on while South Ossetian forces, militia groups and armed individuals looted and destroyed Georgian villages and threatened and abused the residents remaining there.”

“Amnesty International documented unlawful killings, beatings, threats, arson and looting perpetrated by armed groups associated with the South Ossetian side and acting with the apparent acquiescence of Russian armed forces,” the report says.

Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International, said on November 18, that about 20,000 Georgians were still unable to return back to their homes in South Ossetia.

“A new twilight zone has been created along the de facto border between South Ossetia and the rest of Georgia, into which people stray at their peril.  Looting, shooting, explosions and abductions have all been reported in the last few weeks,” he said. “International monitors must be allowed to go to all places and all sides need to intensify their efforts to guarantee the safe return of displaced people without discrimination.” 

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