Moscow: human rights activists hold press conference to sum up their visit to Georgia

Today, on October 28, the "Interfax" has hosted a press conference organized by representatives of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and the "Demos" Centre on the outcomes of their trip to Georgia. They showed the photos made during the visit.

On October 12-23, 2008, they were in the Republic of Georgia and studied the humanitarian consequences of the August armed conflict, having concentrated their attention on the situation in the former "buffer zone" immediately after withdrawal of Russian troops from there.

In the course of their trip, human rights activists visited 19 villages of the Gori District, two villages of the Karelia District, cities of Gori and Tbilisi, and the Akhalgori (Leninogorsk) District of South Ossetia. They paid special attention to the issues of current safety of peaceful residents in the suffered districts.

In the territory of the former "buffer zone" they interviewed residents of the settlements, which had suffered from shelling and bombardments, from robberies and arsons of dwelling houses. Detailed interviews with former hostages were recorded. At temporary accommodation centres, they interviewed the people forced to leave the places of their permanent residence.

The human rights activists met administration heads of settlements and districts, churchmen, and in Tbilisi - also officials and representatives of Georgian NGOs. They also had a brief conversation with the military commandant of the Russian garrison deployed in South Ossetia.

As to humanitarian consequences of the armed conflict in Southern Caucasus, the HRC "Memorial" and "Demos" Centre have issued a special press release.