Georgia and South Ossetia accuse each other of ethnic cleanings

After Russia had launched its armed operation in the context of the intervention of Georgian troops into Tskhinvali, residents of the villages controlled by Georgia started to report about facts of revenge by residents of South Ossetia, complaining about nationality-motivated murders of Georgians. Observers remark that the victims of this short but severe war from both parties had lived through ethnically motivated sufferings.

According to Svetlana Kozaeva, a native of Tskhinvali, who is quoted by the Italian edition La Nazione, "Georgian tanks moved from one house to another and made one, two or three shots at cellars."

"They knew that people who couldn't escape hide in the cellars - children, women and elderly persons. The refuge of my aunt and niece was no exception. After a shot, they found themselves confined in the vault for three days and three nights, together with three corpses, which started to decay."

"An elderly woman, of whom I remember only her name - Maria - was running along the street together with her two grandsons. A Georgian tank caught up with them and squashed them down... I was told that in Muguti, 10 kilometres off Tskhinvali, people hid in a small church. Two Georgian tanks opened fire on it and killed twelve persons," said Ms Kozaeva.

Access of journalists to the regions controlled by Russian troops is restricted, and consequently, the majority of victims interviewed by the correspondent of the American The New York Times were Georgians.

It looked like the men who came to the house of Gyulnara Militauri knew what they looked for. Getting into the kitchen they shot dead her husband and brother; then, they took away a tractor, a Soviet-made car, boots and glassware. Then, they left. For the following five days, when the warfare and marauding were outside, they hid at home, watering the corpses with vinegar in an attempt to prevent decay, the edition writes.

Residents of the village populated by some 3800 citizens reported that 11 persons were shot dead.

Shamil Okropiridze, aged over 60, was shot dead when he opened the gate just to look out to see what the mess was about, said Zurab Ramadze, a local resident.

Koba Chashashvili, 38, was also shot dead without any explanations. Mr Ramadze tried to bury him in the yard, but marauders were seen everywhere, therefore, he silently buried the body in the cellar.

In certain cases refugees knew the Ossetians who burnt down their villages; they could say what villages these Ossetians had come. A Georgian named Murat from Eredvi, who now lives in an empty school in Tbilisi suburb, said that Ossetians from Sarabuki, Osuri and Prisi burnt down part of his village. The second wave of marauders consisted of unknown persons. They shot dead the woman, Murat's neighbour, when she asked not to touch her house.

The French newspaper Le Monde also writes about outrages in Georgian villages of South Ossetia. In the cellar of one of the houses, which was blown up by exploding gas bottles, members of a family were found; the robbers took everything the family had tried to hide, then, put adults on their knees and shot them dead in the head, the edition narrates the story of a Georgian peasant.