NEWSDESK
"I stood in the street with three neighbors. They approached us, shooting in the air, and said 'You weren't happy with a peaceful life – now we're going to show you!' They asked for money, but what kind of money do we have?! Then they started beating us with the butts of their guns. One neighbor had his collar bone broken as a result of the beating. He was taken to the hospital. They hit me and another neighbor in the face, on the ribs and in the kidney area. Then they went to the next door house and looted it. I saw them take away a fridge, clothes and other things. They loaded the loot on to a cart and forced me at gunpoint to push it."When Human Rights Watch interviewed "Vano" and his neighbor, the two men were visibly in pain, and were transported to the hospital shortly thereafter. On August 26 and 27, numerous residents fled the villages of Meghvrekisi and Nikozi. People who fled Meghvrekisi told Human Rights Watch that on the morning of August 26, three armed Ossetians in camouflage fatigues came to the village, searching for young men. When they realized that young males had fled the village, they physically assaulted three villagers – two women and a man. Villagers fleeing Meghvrekisi and Nikozi also said that over the past couple of days, Ossetian militias had been looting and burning houses, forcing most civilians to leave. On August 26, when Human Rights Watch researchers visited the village of Pkhvenisi, three kilomters south of Nikozi and Meghvrekisi, local residents complained that nobody had been providing security in the village, and said they were afraid that the looters would move on to their village. Just 30 minutes later, the villagers called Human Rights Watch and reported that four armed Ossetians held them at gunpoint and stole their tractor.
