グルジア/南オセチア:村々に対する焼き討ちと略奪
（ジャバ、2008年8月13日）―南オセチアで活動中のHRW調査員は、2008年8月12日、南オセチア人民兵によって放火され炎上中のグルジア人系の村々と同民兵による略奪を目撃、また一方で分離した南オセチア地方に関するグルジアvsロシア紛争の間、グルジア軍兵士から逃がれたオセチア系村民の窮状を直接聞いた。
(Java, August 13, 2008) – Human Rights Watch researchers in South Ossetia on August 12, 2008, saw ethnic Georgian villages still burning from fires set by South Ossetian militias, witnessed looting by the militias, and learned firsthand of the plight of ethnic Ossetian villagers who had fled Georgian soldiers during the Georgian-Russian conflict over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
南オセチアで、ジャバ町から同地方の首都ツシンバリに向かう道路を８月１２日に旅したHRW調査員は、グルジア人系村民がもっぱら居住していた４村の恐るべき破壊の光景を目撃した。僅かに残った地域住民によると、南オセチア民兵は略奪が行われたグルジア人系村々に沿って移動し、放火しているという。HRWは南オセチア人民兵を輸送する多数の車とツシンバリ方向に移動中のロシア軍輸送隊を確認した。
In South Ossetia, Human Rights Watch researchers traveling on the evening of August 12 on the road from the town of Java to Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, witnessed terrifying scenes of destruction in four villages that used to be populated exclusively by ethnic Georgians. According to the few remaining local residents, South Ossetian militias that were moving along the road looted the Georgian villages and set them on fire. Human Rights Watch saw numerous vehicles carrying South Ossetian militia members, as well as Russian military transports moving in the direction of Tskhinvali.
ケヒビ、クベノ・アチャベチ（ロシア語ではニズニー・アチャベチ）、ゼモ・アチャベチ（ロシア語ではベルニー・アチャベチ）、タマラシェニの村々にある、多くの民家は昨日焼き尽くされた、－HRWは未だ燻っている民家と所帯道具の残骸を目撃した。
Numerous houses in the villages of Kekhvi, Kvemo Achabeti (Nizhnie Achaveti in Russian), Zemo Achabeti (Verkhnie Achaveti in Russian), and Tamarasheni had been burnt down over the last day – Human Rights Watch researchers saw the smoldering remnants of the houses and household items.
逃げられなかった、若しくは、財産や家畜を守ろうとして残った、数人の高齢者と無能力者を除いて、村々はほぼ放棄されていた。
The villages were virtually deserted, with the exception of a few elderly and incapacitated people who stayed behind either because they were unable to flee or because they were trying to save their belongings and cattle.
“破壊されたグルジア人系村々に残っている住民は、生き残る手段も、援助も、保護も、行くところもなく、絶望的状況に直面している。” とターニャ・ロクシナ・HRW調査員は語った。
“The remaining residents of these destroyed ethnic Georgian villages are facing desperate conditions, with no means of survival, no help, no protection, and nowhere to go,” said Tanya Lokshina at Human Rights Watch.
クベノ・アチャベチ村で、HRW調査員は、池から汲んできた汚れた水を半分程入れた２個のバケツで、燻り続けている家を救おうと必死な努力を続けていた高齢の男性と話をした。
In the village of Kvemo Achabeti, Human Rights Watch researchers spoke to an elderly man who was desperately trying to rescue his smoldering house using two half-empty buckets of dirty water brought from a spring.
その高齢男性のHRWへの話では、家族を含めた大多数の住民は８月８日、グルジア軍と南オセチア人民兵との間で戦闘が勃発した時に村から逃げたが、自分は家畜の面倒を見るために残ることを決断したそうだ。
He told Human Rights Watch that the vast majority of the residents, including his family, fled the village when active fighting between Georgian forces and South Ossetian militias broke out on August 8, but he decided to stay to look after the cattle.お「８月１１日に南オセチア人民兵が家に来て、所帯道具の幾つかを盗っていこうとし、抵抗すると、家に火をつけて去って行った。食料も水もない。」、と彼は語ったが、手には火傷を負い、髪は焦げていて（火を消そうとして果たせなかったようだ）ショック状態にあるようだった。彼によると５名から１０名の高齢者と病人が村に残っていて、皆同じように絶望的状況であり、家の多くが焼かれてしまったそうだ。
He said members of the South Ossetian militia came to his house on August 11, and tried to take away some household items. When he protested, they set the house on fire and left. The man said he had no food or drinking water; his hands were burned and hair was singed – apparently as he was unsuccessfully trying to extinguish the fire – and he appeared to be in a state of shock. He said that there were about five to ten elderly and sick people left in the village, all in a similar desperate condition, and many of the houses were burned.
ケヒビの村では、多くの家が8月12日午後6時30分から7時30分の間に火を付けられた。－それらは、HRW調査員が道路を移動中にも燃えていた。ケヒビ出身の高齢女性２名はHRWに村で何が起こったかを話している間すすり泣いていた。
In the village of Kekhvi, many houses were set on fire between 6.30 pm and 7.30 pm on August 12 – they were ablaze as Human Rights Watch researchers moved along the road. Two elderly women from Kekhvi were weeping as they told Human Rights Watch about what happened in the village.
その内の1人は、「オセチア人民兵が村を通り、家の前で止まり、火のついた“何かを投げた”。家からは何も持ち出せなかった。」と語った。聞き取り調査をしている時も、その家は燃えていて、中には入れなかった。お金は持っていないそうで、この状況を生き抜くことができるがどうか分からないと語っていた。
One of them explained that the members of South Ossetian militias passed by the village and stopped at her house and “threw something” that set it on fire. She did not manage to rescue anything from the house and at the time of the interview could not even enter the house as it was still burning. She had no money on her and did not know if she could survive in this situation.
HRWの調査員は、武装し迷彩服を着たオセチア人民兵が、所帯道具―家具、テレビ、ヒーター、スーツケース、カーペット、毛布―をクベノ・アチャベチ村の家々から持ち出し、トラックに積み込んでいるのを目撃した。その略奪行為を説明して、あるオセチア人男性はHRWに語った。「もちろん、オセチア人はグルジア人から物を盗ったっていいのさ。だって、オセチア人はツシンバリや他所で自分の物を亡くしてるんだもの。」
Human Rights Watch researchers also saw armed Ossetian militia members in camouflage fatigues taking household items – furniture, television sets, heaters, suitcases, carpets, and blankets – out of houses in the village of Kvemo Achabeti, and loading them into their trucks. Explaining the looters’ actions, an Ossetian man told Human Rights Watch, “Of course, they are entitled to take things from Georgians now – because they lost their own property in Tskhinvali and other places.”
ジャバ町の地方政府代表者はHRWに、当局はグルジア人系村で略奪を行っていた２名の男性を逮捕したと述べたが、その２人は南オセチア人民兵ではないとむきなって主張していた。しかし彼の同僚は「グルジア人だって同じことしてるじゃないか？年寄は文句を言うんじゃないよ。殺されなかったのを幸せに思ってればいいんだ。」と語った。
A representative of the local administration in the town of Java told Human Rights Watch that the authorities had arrested two men who were looting the ethnic Georgian villages, but was adamant that they were not members of the South Ossetian militias. His colleague, however, said, “Isn’t that what they [Georgians] have been doing to us? These old people shouldn’t be complaining – they should be happy they weren’t killed.”
南オセチア人民兵とグルジア軍との間の戦闘に適用される国際人権法は、民間人の財産への攻撃と共に略奪をも禁じている。指揮官を含めた個々人は、故意にあるいは、不注意で民間人財産を破壊または略奪する行為に参加した場合、戦争犯罪の責任を問われることになる。国際人権法は、また“民間人住民の間に恐怖を流布することを主要な目的とした行為、または、暴力による威嚇を禁止している。”
International humanitarian law applicable to the fighting between South Ossetian militias and Georgian forces prohibits attacks on civilian property, as well as looting or pillaging. Individuals, including commanders, participating in the deliberate or reckless destruction or looting of civilian property are responsible for war crimes. International humanitarian law also prohibits “acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population.”
ロシア国務大臣ラシド・ヌルガリエフは略奪者には “断固とした厳しい”処置をとると語った。
Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliev said there would be “decisive and tough” measures taken against looters.
「ロシア政府は略奪者を罰するというこの約束を守らされるべきであるが、しかし、全ての紛争当事者が民間人の保護を確保するためにより多くの対策を取る必要がある。」とホーリー・カートナーHRW欧州・中央アジア局長は語った。
“The Russian government should be held to this promise to punish looters but much more needs to be done to ensure that all sides protect civilians,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
HRW調査員は又、南オセチアのレニンゴリ地域から避難して来た南オセチア人女性にも又、聞き取り調査をした。ツシナチャリ、モナステリ、ザコリ、ツベニ、ツアイルの山村出身の女性たちは、HRWに「グルジア軍兵士が、8月7日と8日の夜、村に入ってきた時、子ども、お年寄りと一緒に逃げてきた。」と語った。
Human Rights Watch researchers also interviewed South Ossentian women displaced from the Leningori district of South Ossetia. The women, from the mountain villages of Tsinachari, Monasteri, Zakori, Tsubeni and Tsair, told Human Rights Watch that they had fled with children and elderly people when Georgian military personnel entered their villages on the night of August 7/8.
これらの避難民は、南オセチア人民兵に拾われて、ジャバ町に輸送されてくる前に、 近隣の村で短い休息を取りながら、森の中で数日を過ごしていた。このおよそ100名のグループは、夜間、ジャバ町の学校校舎に収容され、8月13日にはロシアの北オセチアにバスで移動する予定だった。
The displaced persons spent several days in the woods with brief respites in neighboring villages before being picked up by South Ossetian militia and transported to the town of Java. This group of approximately 100 people was accommodated in the Java school building for the night and was due to be moved by buses to North Ossetia in Russia on August 13.
ツシナチャリ出身のある女性はHRWに以下のように語った。
A woman from Tsinachari told Human Rights Watch,
「グルジア人は村に朝の２時頃やってきた。怖がらないでって、自分達の兵隊が撃たれなければ、撃たないって言ってたワ。空に向かって撃ってた、多分私たちを恐がらせるためよ。家にも入ってきた、身分を証明する書類をチェックして、近所の人の幾人かからはパスポートも取り上げて行った。若い男そして普通の男も捜してた。私たちの所の男は皆それまでに逃げちゃってたんだけどーあの人たちはね、民兵になって、森の中に隠れたのよ。グルジア人は銃も探してた、私たちの所の男が武器は持って行っちゃったから、見つかったのは、大したもんじゃなかった。ホントに恐くて、グルジア人がそこに居る間は、村にいられなくなり、私たちも森に逃げ込んだの。最初の晩は、休まずに歩き続けたワ。」
The Georgians came to the village at around two o’clock in the morning. They told us not to be afraid and said that if our men wouldn’t shoot, they wouldn’t shoot either. They shot in the air – probably trying to frighten us. They entered the houses, checked identification documents, even took away the passports from some of our neighbors. They also looked for young guys and for the men. Though all our males were already gone by then – they joined the militia and hid themselves in the woods. The Georgians were also looking for firearms but our men had taken their weapons with them, so there was nothing much to find. We were very scared and could not stay in the village while the Georgians were there, so we also fled into the woods. For the first night, we just walked non-stop.
小さな子ども２人と逃げてきたツアイル出身の女性は「夫と弟は両方とも民兵隊に入った。グルジア兵は家にあったお金は全部盗っていった。家族の男が残していったライフルも、住民のパスポートも取り上げた。皆、ロシア連邦の市民権を持っているのよ。」とHRWに語った。
A woman from Tsair, who fled with her two small children, said that her husband and brother were both in the militia, and told Human Rights Watch that the Georgian soldiers stole whatever money she kept at the house. They also took away the rifle that the men in the family had left behind as well as the passports of the residents, all of whom have citizenship in the Russian Federation.
ツシナチャリ出身のもう１人の女性は、HRWに「８月８日に一緒にいたグループが、森の中でグルジア軍に止められた」、と語った。その女性によれば、「あなたがたの男に、撃つなって言ってくれ。そっちが撃たなければ、こっちも撃たないと言われた。」そうだ。
Another woman from Tsinachari told Human Rights Watch that on August 8, a group she was with was stopped in the woods by the Georgian military. According to the woman, the soldiers said, “Tell your men not to open fire. If they don’t shoot we aren’t going to shoot either.”
森の中にいた時、彼女たちは、大部分親戚である南オセチア民兵から食料をもらい、援助を受けていた。最終的にジャバ町に民兵が彼女たちを乗せて行った時、負傷兵も１名一緒だったと彼女たちは語った。その男性は南オセチア民兵で山の中でグルジア軍兵士に捕まり、殴られてから、釈放されたと聞いたそうだ。彼は暴行で、あばら骨が何本か折れていた。
During the time they spent in the woods the fleeing civilians were provided with food and assistance by the members of South Ossetian militia, mostly their own relatives. When the militia finally drove them to Java, the women said a wounded man was transported along with them. He was a member of the South Ossetia militia who they were told had been seized by Georgian soldiers in the mountains, beaten up and released. He suffered several broken ribs from the beating.
