COMMENT: Letter and Voices from Georgians and other people. Part four.

Arabishvili Daredjan, 57 years
Village Shindisi
We were in the cellar when they bombed us. It was a firm building and we were hiding there, we were not going to leave. Later I called my son in law, he is from Tbilisi. He came and got us out of there. We left Monday evening. The Russian army was already in Tkviavi, they almost reached us, aircrafts were bombing us….Finally we got out of there. Our troops were still standing with tanks and shooting. Then silence fell. I think Russians killed them with bombs. They were Georgian security forces. So many boys were killed. We left such a house there, we left everything.

We could not take anything with us. We were not going to leave, sitting and watching TV . Then our neighbour came and asked us what we were going to do. We said we were not planning to leave. Are you crazy? - She said. Kazaks are coming, they are cannibals, and they will kill us. We left immediately. What else could we do? Now they are attacking and destroying villages. We were living a quite life. What should we do now?

We left our house, we left everything.

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Respondent 1 – Tsiuri Metreveli, Village Kemeti
Shootings started on August 6th and we left the village on the 8th. It has been going on for 13 years. Shootings were minor in the beginning. But since we received the information that they (referring to the Georgian Government) were planning to enter Tskhinvali, we moved into the basements. We thought that they (referring again to the Georgian Government) had the guarantees from someone and therefore were planning something. And we hoped that it would be finally over! When the air bombarding started, we ran away. We – local residents -- were given no warning that it was getting dangerous and that we should have started evacuation. When the situation became really tense, neighbors themselves called each other to run and we did not have even few minutes to pack. My son-in-law who was in a military service called my daughter over the phone and was surprised to hear that we were still in the village. He asked us to run away immediately. And we left everything and ran away. We were very confused. What could we have done? We had only 2-3 minutes to prepare for departure. I was so confused that I even had hard time to get on the truck. Everyone was trying to fit in that truck which belonged to our neighbor. The owner was saying that he could manage to drive through forests with only 20 people on the truck. Local residents were outside in the streets watching us. I was only focused on my father-in-law who was blind. I wanted to make sure that I would not forget to bring him with us. I could not think of anything else. I could not take any IDs or other documentation. Somehow we managed to get in the car and left the village. On the way we saw local residents standing in the streets. The driver was sorry that he could not fit more people in his truck and that he had to leave them behind.

While we were driving, we saw the column of Georgian soldiers which was being bombarded. Our car was not bombed. I guess they (referring to Russians) felt sorry for us and let us leave. Chechens met those Georgian troops who did not have cars and had to walk. By that time, Chechens and Georgians were at the Georgian positions. They used to check the people on weapons and let them go.

My brother is in Gori at this moment and he told me that they (referring to Russian troops) are coming by tanks and destroying anything that is left.

By the way, the neighbor who drove us also said that he could have taken the furniture and other supplies from home but he just could not have left us behind. He gave the ride to the whole neighborhood.

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Natia Metreveli, village Kheiti
When contacted, those who stay on the spot tell us that they are hiding in the forest. The tanks are raiding the city, the armed people go into the houses, they take everything that they like e.g. equipment, everything. They rob houses and then put them on fire. Hey burn absolutely everything. We left at 5 o'clock and we arrived in Tbilisi at 12:00. Just as we speak one of us heard that her father lost life-he was there. We don't know whether our neighbors are alive. We cannot contact them on phone. The father and mother in law of my relative are there and we cannot get in touch with them either. They could not walk. We could not imagine the situation would escalate at this scale. They did not leave together with us.

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Zamira Maisuradze, aged 67
Village Dzartsemi, Tskhinvali region
They bombed. We thought we would not survive. There were constant shootings. The windows and the doors were shot. The houses were bombed. But I personally have not seen casualties. The school was heavily bombed. The neighboring house was completely destroyed. Three-Four houses were destroyed. People were escaping by large cars from the village. They all called us to be quick. And we listened. I did not take anything with me. We left in whatever was on us. No body managed to take anything from home. Every member of my family left. Some of them had left earlier taking children out of the hot spot. Only I and my husband stayed home. My son, living in Tbilisi, was calling and asking me to leave; he said he would commit a suicide if we don't leave.

We drove by a little car. We went to Tirdzini through Eredvi. We hardly managed to drive through the rock. We came across Chechens there. They were only two. The rest were hiding in the forest. They stopped us and asked whether we were armed. I replied "no, son, we have no weapon". We spoke in Russian. Then I talked with them as I would speak with a child and they let us go. I asked if they were Russians. They denied and said they were Chechens. I could tell they were Chechens by their appearance too. They looked good. Only after my pleas they let us go. I begged, I cried and finally they let us go. Apparently they were good people. We met no one further. We left the territory peacefully. We were escaping together with large number of people and obviously Chechens were spread in the forest. We left early in the morning and presumably many of them were in the forest at that time and therefore we met only two. We are aware that there are more of Chechens there.

I do not know what happened to my house. There were constant shootings in the village, large scale shootings. We arrived in Tbilisi on Sunday, the same day. The overall population has left the village. The village is empty.

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Tamara Tugieva, 70 years, Ethnical Ossetian
I am from Kekhvi village. I ran away from the village and came on foot to Gori. At the evening we were hiding at somebody's place and at 7 p.m. guys rushed into the house screaming out "hurry up… hurry up..." so we ran away. I was so scared, I do not remember which day it was…
I could not take anything with me; I left even passports and everything. We were four women and two boys walking along the road. We were running through gardens, swamps, corn fields, trying to avoid major roads. I was wearing the same shoes as I am now. My feet were swollen and I took off my shoes...

When we reached Eredvi, they started bombardment again and two of our companion women from Kekhvi were killed. We could not even take care of their bodies as far as bombardment was so intensive (weeping).

I felt bad and fell down into the mud, I could not get up and one Georgian policeman screamed out "wait for the woman, wait for her!" and they helped me to get out of the mud.

We were walking for the whole night and entered a Georgian village. One guy let us in to overnight. His family, wife and a chilled, was out and we spent the night there. He had no food so left the house, brought some potatoes and cooked for us.

Then we reached Gori on foot. It was almost 10 a.m. I tried to find my relatives in Gori but in vain. Later on I left for Tbilisi.

My husband is Georgian and he is still in Kekhvi. I do not know anything about him, whether he is alive of dead. They say houses had been burned to ashes. I do not know if my house is burned down or not. When we left the village all houses were ok, so I can not say anything… my children are here…

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Tsitso Otinashvili, aged 64
We left our village Kekhvi, situated above Tskhinvali, on August 9 at 3 o'clock. We expected all to calm down. When we saw the airplanes we thought they were of Georgian side. There was no police, no statement or warning to leave the gorge. We stayed in the informational vacuum for 4 days. And then the bombings started, horrible continuous bombings on 8th and 9th , it was terrible. It was the Russian airplane with red stars. They shot not only from the airplanes but from all weapons at their disposal. The shootings were continuous, they shot non-stop. Then the situation deteriorated and grew into the demolition. The civilian buildings are destroyed. They mainly targeted the populated areas.

My son helped me walking, I had both legs operated. The bombs were chasing, we would lie on the ground and then with operated legs it was difficult for me to stand up. We managed to pass and in the area controlled by Georgians, we came across Chechens. They were Chechens. Chechens controlled our territories. They happily accompanied us with words "Thank God you left home". They accompanied us and we left. We needed an asylum. No one responded.

We walked to the Eredvi forest and the bus arrived. Apparently the bus was sent by our government. Our Parliament took care of taking us from the region. My house is destroyed. I had the picture of Saakashvili, thus who would leave my home untouched. We left crawling from the cellar. We were yet home when the house was hit. I don't know what happened afterwards. We walked for three hours. It was night when we arrived in Tbilisi.

Tsriakho was the place where ours stood. There were Chechens, they spoke on the different language. This language was nor Georgian, neither Ossetian, I can speak Ossetian. They did no harm to us but they took away everything costly. They took cars.

There are corps laying in the yards in my village and there is nobody to help. They bomb civilians. Our boys helped us and they just watched. When the airplane passed and did not bomb we presumed they were Georgians.

They robbed me in Tskhinvali. I had a house that they took. We moved to the village and were forced to leave again. My ancestors lived there. We leaved very well together, Georgians and Ossetians. There were mixed families. Why did they got us involved in the politics. Now I assert to all and demand my life back.

My son has marvelous friends, the Ossetians. My heart is with my son and his Ossetian friends. This tragedy is about politics, right? We have nothing to do with it. During the war we met one Ossetian family who became our friends. They further baptized my grandson. They came to the church to our place and they baptized him there. They called my son that they wanted to baptize his son.

Our gorge consists of 9 villages. If anyone was in trouble we stood by each other. We kept our gorge up to now. Have you seen our gorge? It is so beautiful that anyone who visits it does not want to leave.

My son was forced to leave home in Tkhinvali and became an IDP. He was forced to leave long ago. He is living outside home for so long and only thing he managed is to pay the tuition fee for his son. He could not purchase anything. Now he has two more sons. We lost a child in Gori. We got him back only today. The child is 13. He was accompanied by his grandmother. We have no news about her. Sometimes I would faint from the grievance sometimes his mother. He was lost for 5 days.

They took away our belongings in Tskhinvali. Once we started from the very beginning and here it starts again. The people who arrived after us bring this news. There still are people left. We cannot contact them for two days now.. There is no news.

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Nino Tsereteli, aged 36
We left the village Achabeti on 8th of August, 2008 at 6 o'clock in the evening. We left by the car of our neighbor. Out of the sudden they told us to evacuate. The people were escaping and calling as to leave with them. They were shouting about the approaching army. The bombings started on 8th. There are Russian checkpoints nearby our village. They were shooting from Russian checkpoints.

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Respondent: Pepela Nemsadze, Village of Zemo (upper) Khviti, Nikozi local council
Date of the interview: August 13, 2008
Venue: M. Nodia Institute of Geophysics
I arrived on the 9th. I arrived because my son is a military officer, he was guarding the country, all lights were out, and I could not receive any information, I left the village in order to hear my son's voice and learn what situation he was in, how he was. On a second day, when I was returning, I could not make my way to the village. My husband stayed in the village and he is still there. What situation he is in right now I don't know- We called him, but they are so resistant, even if they were really suffering, he would still tell me he is fine more or less. My daughter in law called me, told me the house was destroyed, not completely demolished but destroyed. Neighbor has got a bunker and there are 12 people hiding in it…They tell me situation in a village is more or less safe now. They tell me that as we were leaving, the village was being attacked by air bombing, the jets were already flying over the village. The situation was bad, I was sick too, and I was almost pushed into the local bus, and I left the site just with my cloths on. I left because I wanted to learn what was going on, (because there was no electricity I could not get any information) but I was unable to go back…we left under fire, women and children escaped, they came here. I am so stubborn I would not leave, I would not leave my husband, he would not leave anyway, but the reason was…the night before, it hit the neighbors house…it is a destitute family ..her husband was killed earlier, during Zviad's times, and now her son also died as I know. Her house was hit, on the other side, and my house is near it, and the pieces fell on our house as well. Window glasses shattered, my husband was standing close and he surprisingly survived, the wall saved him. The window frames fell off, big stones as well..this happened at night, my husband survived by a miracle. I was also close, standing near a door, he was outside, looking at what was happening. And he went back in, he was scared…it happened like this. They were probably located at the gardens in our village, and they were targeting us directly, a couple of them exploded at this place.. then I heard it exploding near and the house got demolished.. I was there…there were casualties.. two women died at this very incident. They were outside on a balcony, were hit by the shrapnel and both of them died.
I know that during these two nights Nuri and Avlevi –these two villages were bombed, loud explosions could be heard from there, and then our side responded as well, and may be because shooting was also coming from our side, when Georgians took their positions then they were targeting because of that. They were ready to kill us all and they (Georgians) had to do something ..they demolished two villages that night. Then they attacked us, nearby villages.
I was not going to leave for good. My motherland village is Akhaldaba, and I thought I would stay there, but people had also left this place. I though I would then go to Gori, but almost everyone has left Gori as well. And I was not able to leave the transport. It was a private bus, If I wanted to leave everyone had to step out to let me out. That's how I happened to come to Tbilisi. I am able to reach them by phone once in a while and know that he is hiding in a bunker. Are they telling me the truth or something bad has happened upon me I don't know. .. I have not talked to my husband directly, I only talk to the other person. I call during the day and may be they are not together during the day, or are they lying? I don't know…

We have 7 members in our family. I have two sons who are married, and me and my husband….My son is an artillery officer. He was on a front line…we could not get any information about him, he is such a person himself that won't tell me anything even if he is in trouble. He did not come home even for a minute because he wanted to be next to them (the solders) who are to him as his children….

It was an air bombing…They were shooting from some kind of equipment…When I was still there tanks were not coming and after that….Just yesterday were received information from Akhaldaba that Russian army is moving forward spending dawn the ammunition on the people…the forest was burning and fire was in the neighborhoods as well. This was according yesterday's information and today I know nothing. We are very depressed, I can hardly think. especially when I think about the children, boys who grew up in my hands…I taught them in the school.. A lot of boys from us went on contracted military service. And there are many who are missing now, two, no, three I know for sure are dead. I don't know about others, they are missing.. this is the situation…

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Tamar Apstiauri, 28
I live in the village of Megvrikisi, Gori region. I left on Sunday, my husband – on Monday. When our Army started to leave and we were about being bombed, we had no other choice. Surely it was better to join my children, then to die. So we left without taking anything from the house. My children had left before. I have three children and when we were coming, it seemed I would not be able to see them again. I was looking up, fearing that something would fall on me. Only things that I managed to take were the clothes of the kids, nothing else.

We left on the car of my neighbour. He rushed in our house and told we needed to leave. He said, "Don't you see what is happening with us?". When we saw the smoke above Eredvi, we decided that if we did not leave, we would die. That is why we escaped. Our village is situated right at the location of peacekeepers near Ergneti. So to say, we are caught in teeth of Ossetians.

We travelled safely. Obviously they had not started to move in this direction. My husband also managed to escape yesterday.When I left, my house was not damaged, though I don't know about its condition now. At that moment, the village was also not burnt down so far.

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Eka Metreveli, 35.
I fled from village Kemerti of Liakhvi gorge in the evening of August 9. Me and my spouse sent kids beforehand. And we left in the evening of 9th with our own car. The village was bombed from jets and probably by tanks as well. From the beginning, it all started when they shelled a car of the head of administration, guys blew up, my cousin was in that explosion. Then there were explosions every night and situation was tense. Before we left, two shells hit our house. It destroyed a sleeping room and a bathroom. I do not know in what condition is the house now, but as I have heard, it is burned. We were not able to bring anything with us. Me and my spouse stayed in the basement of a relative and when we decided to leave, we did not even enter the house, we just ran away immediately. We drove through the side road and exactly when we passed village Eredvi, they dropped a bomb and the explosion lifted a car nearby in the air. The houses were also destroyed then. What we need now is support of people and peace!

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Woman from Tskhinvali.
Five of our families left. Once I was an internally displaced. Don't know where to go and what to do. I lived in the middle of Tskhinvali. Afterwards I moved to the village. When the villages got bombed we left. I buried two people and arrived here yesterday. I was carrying the corpse for three days trying to get it to the village to burry it. At the end I buried it on the road. He was my uncle. The shell cut off his leg and he died in the hospital from bleeding. Our neighbor's 18 year old son was killed. They buried him but almost got killed there.

Woman from Tskhinvali region
The Kazakhs torture everyone. My father did not leave together with us and who knows what's happening to him now. We left by foot and slept overnight on the highway at the entrance of Tbilisi. We got a message that the whole village was burnt after we left. They are burning everything now, all Georgian villages.

contact: georgiawar@gmail.com