Police stand near the body of a Georgian soldier in Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetia, August 10, 2008.
Photo: Valery Melnikov
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Investigators Can't Count the Bodies
// 133 deaths confirmed in attack on South Ossetia
The Russian Prosecutor General’s investigative committee presented preliminary results in the criminal case connected with events in South Ossetia. The committee has been able to document the deaths of only 133 civilians, although the leadership of the unrecognized republic reported 1492 deaths. The number of peacekeepers killed remains unknown. However, genocide of the Ossetians carried out by Georgia has been established.
Boris Salmaksov, deputy chairman of the investigative committee, stated that the first Russian investigators started working in South Ossetia on August 8, at the height of the military action. The criminal cases they initiated under article 105 (murder of civilians and peacekeepers) and article 357 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (genocide of citizens of the Russian Federation of Ossetian nationality) were later combined into a single case. The prosecutor of the unrecognized republic also conducted a case. There are 211 investigators and 30 criminal prosecutors working on the combined case. Ninety-three of them are working in South Ossetia and are eligible for military benefits, said Dmitry Shalkov, deputy head of the military investigations department of the investigative committee.
“More than 4000 people were recognized as victims in the case,” Salmaksov said. “More than 950 expert examinations were carried out. We examined 600 crime scenes in Tskhinvali and ten other settlements. More than 5000 objects and documents were taken into evidence and are already part of the criminal case.”
Investigators noted that genocide and the murder of civilians and peacekeepers were established in the course of questioning witnesses. Salmaksov emphasized that the use by Georgia of multiple rocket launchers, which is banned under international agreements, was recorded, as were incidents of the vandalism of cemeteries and cultural monuments (Georgian tanks rolled across graves and shot at buildings). “The Georgian side opened fire directly on a Russian peacekeeping battalion,” said Shalkov. “Ambulances were destroyed in the first minutes [of the attack]. The Russian soldiers held their positions for a day and a half and then retreated under grenade fire. More than 40 people were wounded.”
“Georgia’s actions were planned,” stated Salmaksov. “Among the documents we took into evidence is a map with military goals by the hour and minute.” Salmaksov stressed that investigators still have a lot of work to do. More than 2500 witnesses have been questioned, but 37,000 refugees fled South Ossetia to Russian territory.
The problem of making a count of the dead is tied to questioning the witnesses. Russian investigators, Salmaksov explained, have recorded 133 victims, and international human rights organizations have made similar determinations. But South Ossetia has a count of 1492 dead among the civilian population. “There have been numbers mentioned up to 2000. The difference is clearly in that we are talking about those we can list by name. We cannot count the numerous burials on the territory of South Ossetia. We cannot perform autopsies on them. First, we have to question the local residents who buried the dead – their neighbors, soldiers, chance people,” Salmaksov said. “People were forced to bury bodies in gardens and courtyards. There are masses of those unidentified hillocks. Only in some cases have we been able to determine who is buried there.” The investigators have also been unable to determine the number of Russian peacekeepers killed. Previously, the defense Ministry mentioned 74 servicemen killed in the conflict, but yesterday that number was lowered to 64.
An interesting detail of the genocide and murder case is that no one has been arrested, and there are no suspects. Russia is exchanging captured Georgian soldiers for captive Russian peacekeepers. “The guilty will be found, nonetheless,” said Shalkov. “It will be so. Time will tell.”
Although official representative of the investigative committee Vladimir Markin said yesterday that it was “still early” for the criminal investigation to evaluate the actions of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, it is clear that the investigation is mainly aimed at him and other Georgian leaders. As high-placed officials have repeatedly stated, Russia plans to bring them to justice through international courts or tribunals.
Marina Lepina
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 21, 2008
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