3.6 Pillaging, Destruction, Violence, and Threats against Civilians

As described in Chapter 4, Ossetian militias would in some cases arrive in villages together with Russian forces, and the latter at the very least provided cover for the burning and looting of homes. While some civilians described the conduct of Russian ground forces as disciplined, Human Rights Watch documented several cases in which Russian forces, together with Ossetian militias, used or threatened violence against civilians or looted and destroyed civilian property. Some of these cases are described in Chapter 4.2; several additional cases are highlighted here because of the active and discernable role played by Russian forces. Acts of pillage are prohibited under customary international law and violate article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention relating to the protection of civilians in armed conflict. Pillaging is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime. The cases involve villages in South Ossetia and in undisputed Georgian territory.

Ilia Chulukidze, 84, a resident of Kvemo Achabeti north of Tskhinvali, told Human Rights Watch about how Russian forces, acting alone, beat him:

Around 6:30 a.m. on August 11 I was home alone when three Russian soldiers burst into my house. They broke the door and one put a weapon in my face; others ran upstairs looking for something. They broke all the doors and turned everything upside down, asking for weapons and rifles. I did not have any and could not give them any. Because of that they started beating me.

They were beating me with the butts of their automatics, particularly on the head. My entire head was swollen. One of them hit me on the chest so hard that I fell down and I could hardly stand up again. They demanded guns. I've never had one. I was beaten until I lost consciousness. Then two of them picked me up and put me on a bed and poured some water on me to bring me round. They could not find anything and left.[333]

Ossetian forces came later, looted and burned Chulukidze's house, and took him to the detention center in Tskhinvali (see Chapters 4.2 and 4.4).

Tamaz Sukhitashvili, 51, told Human Rights Watch about how on August 13, men in camouflage-presumably Ossetian militia fighters-arrived on Russian tanks in his village, Karaleti (in Gori district), and torched his house:

I was hiding in my backyard … when I saw people from the tanks entering my yard. They wore military camouflage uniforms. They entered my yard and started shooting in the air. They had some kind of weapon that they aimed at the house and it set the house on fire.[334]

On August 15, armed Ossetians together with Russian forces looted and torched the homes of Marine Tetunashvili, 73, and her neighbor, Teimuraz Tetunashvili, 78. Teimuraz Tetunashvili described how, at around noon that day, he heard gunshots:

I was in the street. Five men, Ossetians and Russians, came on a BMP [infantry fighting vehicle]. They jumped off and started shooting at the house. They said, "Give us your cow and money." I said, "Here is one cow, take it!" They said, "That's it?! Just one? And why don't you have more?" They hit me and pushed me to the ground, and started kicking me. They did not find anything in the house, just burnt it. And they took the cow.[335]

Marine Tetunashvili was sleeping in a small cottage in the yard next to her main house when she heard shooting from the street.[336] She told Human Rights Watch,

Three Ossetians then entered the yard, armed, in camouflage fatigues. They went into the house, and pointed their guns at me, asking, "Where is your son? Get out or we will burn you alive!" I told them, "I am alone, everyone is in Tbilisi, what do you want from me?!" And I was just begging them, "Don't kill me, take whatever you want, but don't kill me!"

When I got out of the little house in the yard, our house was already on fire. I ran into the pigsty, and watched my house being burnt to ashes. When I tried to come out, they pointed their guns at me and yelled, "Go back, or we'll kill you!"[337]

The soldiers carried things out of the house and stole a car and two cows. Both Marine's and Teimuraz's houses were burnt to the ground. Human Rights Watch saw the remains of both houses.

Marine Tetunashvili in the remains of her house, which armed Ossetians, together with Russian forces, looted and burned on August 15, 2008. © 2008 Human Rights Watch

Arkadi A., a resident of Koshka (in Gori district, just outside the South Ossetia administrative border), told Human Rights Watch that looters, both Russian and Ossetian, entered the village on August 9 and 10 after the village had been shelled. According to Arkadi A., they moved around in groups of 15 and stole everything from a number of houses before setting fire to them. He witnessed some of them.[338]