Georgia Struggles to Defend War Actions as Amnesty Issues Report

Posted by Philip Dru on 11/19/08 • Categorized as Georgia, Russia

Amnesty International has issued a comprehensive new report on the August war between Russia and Georgia in which it details concerns regarding serious human rights violations and urges an investigation into the conduct of all parties.

Serious accusations were once again aimed at the Georgian military, who is again reported to have launch “indiscriminate attacks” during its shelling of the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. Georgia’s war narrative had already been thrown into serious doubt by multiple reports which challenged their version of events.

As the latest report stands to damage Georgian credibility even further, the government hit back, saying it would demand Amnesty produce proof to corroborate its report. They also denied comments from a since-fired commander, who said that President Mikheil Saakashvili ordered him to “restore constitutional order” in South Ossetia. Mysteriously while denying that Saakashvili made the order, they defended the order and insisted that the commander used a “very stretched interpretation” of it.

After the war, the enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia both declared independence, which was recognized by the Russian government. President Saakashvili has vowed to reclaim the separatist enclaves, and it is expected the Georgia will use this week’s Geneva talks to press for international troops to be sent to the areas to replace Russian forces.

Antiwar | Tuesday, November 18, 2008

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