Fresh witness accounts have undermined Georgia's portrayal of its onslaught on the breakaway territory of South Ossetia as a purely defensive operation, and prompted authorities to launch a fightback to counter allegations that it is rewriting the history of its six-day war with Russia. Amnesty International will today be the latest to challenge the Georgian narrative in an authoritative 76-page report which accuses Georgia and Russia of war crimes during the short, sharp war triggered by the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on 7 August. The war, ended by French mediation after Russia invaded Georgia proper in a land, sea and air assault, triggered the most serious crisis in international relations since the Cold War.The Amnesty report specifically accuses Georgian forces of having committed "indiscriminate attacks" on 7 August "causing deaths and injuries among South Ossetian civilians and considerable damage to civilian objects". It says: "Serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by all sides."Ryan Grist, the head of the international monitoring group during the conflict, told The Independent that when the war started the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali "did still contain women and children" who should have been protected from the conflict which had built up over months.
Fresh witness accounts have undermined Georgia's portrayal of its onslaught on the breakaway territory of South Ossetia as a purely defensive operation, and prompted authorities to launch a fightback to counter allegations that it is rewriting the history of its six-day war with Russia.
Amnesty International will today be the latest to challenge the Georgian narrative in an authoritative 76-page report which accuses Georgia and Russia of war crimes during the short, sharp war triggered by the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on 7 August. The war, ended by French mediation after Russia invaded Georgia proper in a land, sea and air assault, triggered the most serious crisis in international relations since the Cold War.
The Amnesty report specifically accuses Georgian forces of having committed "indiscriminate attacks" on 7 August "causing deaths and injuries among South Ossetian civilians and considerable damage to civilian objects". It says: "Serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by all sides."
Ryan Grist, the head of the international monitoring group during the conflict, told The Independent that when the war started the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali "did still contain women and children" who should have been protected from the conflict which had built up over months.
MOSCOW: Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian forces failed to protect civilians, and in some cases singled them out for attack, during the war in Georgia, according to a report released Tuesday by Amnesty International. The report calls for an independent investigation into "serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law" that Amnesty International contends were committed by all sides during the war in August. The conflict has been muddied by exaggeration and prejudice from its first hours, said John Dalhuisen, one of the report's authors. But he said, "The truth will out, eventually." Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group, studied satellite imagery of damage around the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and interviewed witnesses and victims during four visits to the region. The report said that in attacking Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, on Aug. 7 and 8, Georgia fired Grad missiles that seemed to miss their targets and hit civilian areas. It also criticized Russia for bombarding Georgian territory later and for allowing South Ossetian forces to loot ethnic Georgian villages for weeks.
MOSCOW: Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian forces failed to protect civilians, and in some cases singled them out for attack, during the war in Georgia, according to a report released Tuesday by Amnesty International.
The report calls for an independent investigation into "serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law" that Amnesty International contends were committed by all sides during the war in August.
The conflict has been muddied by exaggeration and prejudice from its first hours, said John Dalhuisen, one of the report's authors. But he said, "The truth will out, eventually."
Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group, studied satellite imagery of damage around the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and interviewed witnesses and victims during four visits to the region.
The report said that in attacking Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, on Aug. 7 and 8, Georgia fired Grad missiles that seemed to miss their targets and hit civilian areas. It also criticized Russia for bombarding Georgian territory later and for allowing South Ossetian forces to loot ethnic Georgian villages for weeks.
