CoE Recommends All Sides to Make Further Attempts to Clarify Location Where Georgian Tank 406 Ambushed
By
Zurab Makharashvili
– September 30, 2010Posted in: General Posts
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gori 1 big 300x178 CoE Recommends All Sides to Make Further Attempts to Clarify Location Where Georgian Tank 406 Ambushed
CoE published report on ‘monitoring of investigations into cases of missing persons during and after the August 2008 armed conflict in Georgia’ . The report is based on the work of international experts – Bruce Pegg and Nicolas Sebire – recruited by the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights.
‘On 26 February 2010, Shota Utiashvili, Head of the Information and Analytical Department of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, gave the Commissioner and the experts a disk containing three video recordings which were of concern to the Georgian authorities. The videos had been found on the Internet. Two of those videos featured Georgian soldiers who were being physically ill-treated and/or displayed injuries.
The third video given to the Commissioner and the experts showed a uniformed Georgian soldier who appears disoriented, displays extensive facial contusions and is bleeding. The soldier wears a helmet of the type used by tank crews marked with the numerals 109. The Georgian authorities initially identified this person and Giorgi Romelashvili, the commander of the missing T-72 tank 406. The young soldier is shown being questioned by his captors. To the experts, it appears quite clear that the soldier can no longer be considered as a combatant and that he should receive the protection of the Geneva Conventions’, the report reads.
An official of the Georgian Ministry of Defence informed the experts that Romelashvili, Birtvelashvili and Sukhitashvili were in the crew of Tank T72 No. 406. According to this official, the three soldiers were participating in the military actions in Tskhinvali on 8 August during which the tank drove towards the village of Tamarasheni. The tank was ambushed and connection was then lost.
The expert was subsequently able to go to the location and view the turret of the T-72 tank. He observed that the turret had partially dug into the concrete of a building. Certain persons representing the de facto authorities in Tskhinvali have indicated that following the explosion small remnants of the bodies of the soldiers in the tanks were left in the surrounding area. A witness has stated that, early on 9 August 2008, she walked through the area where the tank turret remains to the present time and observed two destroyed tanks and multiple human body parts. This witness also mentioned that she saw a part of a human breast to which part of a military uniform was still attached, and the inscription ‘Sukhitashvili’ sewn onto the uniform. This is somewhat surprising, as the intense heat of the explosion would normally destroy clothing.
The examination of the turret revealed certain serial numbers on the breech block and internal working parts of the main armament. These serial numbers were supplied to the Georgian authorities along with a request for indicative research.
Unfortunately, none of the serial numbers supplied by the experts were matched exactly to tank serial numbers known by the Georgian authorities. However, a senior official of the Georgian Ministry of Defence indicated that the numbers were so similar to those recorded after the purchase of tank 406, that he felt that the remains of the tank which seen by the expert in Tskhinvali were probably the remains of tank 406.
The experts make assessments and final recommendations on the case of Romelashvili, Birtvelashvili and Sukhitashvili.
The experts have concluded that the young man in the video handed to the Commissioner is not Giorgi Romelashvili of Tank 406, nor is he Zaza Birtvelashvili or Otar Sukhitashvili of the same crew. The remnant of the tank turret which is still located in Tskhinvali is probably that of T-72 tank 406. The de facto authorities in Tskhinvali are now making efforts to clarify this matter. However, the bodies of the crew members who were in the tank are likely to have been completely destroyed and may not be capable of recovery.
In addition to the recommendations above, the experts would like to recommend the following steps to the relevant actors on the case of the missing crew of tank 406:
• All sides should make further attempts to clarify the location where and how Tank 406 was ambushed;
• The Russian authorities should provide any details in their possession concerning the location and identification of serial numbers of Georgian tanks destroyed during the 2008 August conflict.
• The de facto South Ossetian authorities and the relevant Russian authorities should step up their efforts to identify the burial sites of missing persons who might have perished in the course of the August 2008 conflict.
• The Georgian authorities should provide grief counselling for the family members of Tank 406 crew and relatives of other missing persons.
• The Georgian authorities should clarify the identity of the soldier depicted on the third video (having regard to the fact that he was not recognised by the mother of Giorgi Romelashvili as being her son). The video should be shown to a forensic pathologist with experience in examining wounds sustained doing combat. Once the person’s identity has been correctly established, efforts to clarify his fate should be undertaken by all sides
საინტერესოა ძალზე - ჩვენი 406 ეკიპაჟის შეახებ
http://www.stoprussia.org/2010/09/30/coe-r...mbushed/?ref=nf 
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