The powerful new report from Human Rights Watch accuses Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian forces of committing war crimes during the conflict here in August last year. According to this highly-detailed independent investigation based on hundreds of interviews, all sides were guilty of serious violations against innocent civilians. The allegations against Georgia (indiscriminate rocket attacks on civilian areas in South Ossetia), Russia (indiscriminate strikes on civilian areas in Georgia) and South Ossetia (ethnic cleansing of Georgian villages) are by now well-known, and have, of course, already been denied by the respective governments. But what is truly disturbing about the HRW report is the almost obscene detail of the intimate brutality of soldiers and militiamen during this short but devastating war. Uneasy reading, but essential nonetheless.
Monday, January 26, 2009
A Catalogue of Brutality
The powerful new report from Human Rights Watch accuses Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian forces of committing war crimes during the conflict here in August last year. According to this highly-detailed independent investigation based on hundreds of interviews, all sides were guilty of serious violations against innocent civilians. The allegations against Georgia (indiscriminate rocket attacks on civilian areas in South Ossetia), Russia (indiscriminate strikes on civilian areas in Georgia) and South Ossetia (ethnic cleansing of Georgian villages) are by now well-known, and have, of course, already been denied by the respective governments. But what is truly disturbing about the HRW report is the almost obscene detail of the intimate brutality of soldiers and militiamen during this short but devastating war. Uneasy reading, but essential nonetheless.
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