EURASIA INSIGHT
Paul Rimple
8/18/08
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The Georgian village of Karateli lies seven kilometers north of Gori. While many buildings in the village are still standing, a large number of homes along the road have been destroyed and every store looted. Village residents recall being terrified as marauding bands swept into the village.
A woman named Marina, who requested that her family name not be used, said she was one of eight people who hid in a garage as the looting occurred. "Ossetians attacked us, they stole all our cars – didn’t leave a single one," she states. Indeed, the only vehicles to be seen in the town were all burned-out wrecks. Marina said that while she was in hiding, her house was pillaged and a storeroom burned.
Locals claim only a few Georgians were killed, although another village resident, Medea Bibilashvili, claimed that "some" young men were rounded up and taken away. The account could not be independently verified.
The violence was much worse in ethnic Georgian villages in the separatist territory of South Ossetia. Displaced persons told stories of how they hid in basements while Ossetian and Chechen irregulars rampaged through their villages. They recounted tales of neighbors being shot and of homes being torched. Events happened so fast that many, especially the elderly, didn’t have enough time to escape.
"They poured gasoline on houses and lit them on fire everyday," says 84 year-old Alexi Datashvili, one of about two dozen elderly and feeble residents from the Georgian villages of Tamarsheni, Chabeti and Kurta, the former seat of the Tbilisi backed alternative de-facto president, Dmitri Sanakoyev. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
"The Russians were normal. The Ossetians stole cows, pianos, cars ... and killed everything. There is not a person, a dog, a chicken left alive," Datashvili asserted.
Russia’s Ministry of Extraordinary Situations arranged for the evacuation of the group of Georgians, busing them from South Ossetia to an abandoned school in Gori, where they received boxes of humanitarian aid. As they stepped off the bus, some IDPs expressed gratitude to Russian officials. "They [MES officials] were very kind. They saved us," said Vladimir Bekusha.
In Gori itself, Russian officials have impeded Georgian television broadcasts, replacing them with Russian programming. "For four days all we’ve seen is Russian TV. They make us Georgians look like such animals," says 52 year-old Zoya Lazarishvili.
The recently modernized Georgian army base in Gori has been thoroughly ransacked. Several hundred meters north of the base, Russian forces are digging new artillery positions – an indicator that Russian troops are not intending to pull out soon.
Editor’s Note: Paul Rimple is a freelance reporter based in Tbilisi.
Posted August 18, 2008 © Eurasianet
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