On the 33rd anniversary of the Zar tragedy, South Ossetian Ambassador to Russia Znaur Gassiev addressed the heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Moscow, as well as the Georgian Interests Section at the Swiss Embassy, the press service of the diplomatic agency reports.
“33 years ago, time stopped for the 33 civilians of South Ossetia on the Zar Road of Life. The mournful date of May 20, 1992 will remain in the history of the Republic of South Ossetia and in the memory of the entire Ossetian people as one of the most tragic days.
As a result of the inhumane policy of the Georgian leadership, 33 years ago, time stopped for the 33 civilians on the road near the South Ossetian village of Zar. "The brutal reprisal against them still echoes in our hearts with pain and indignation," the Ambassador said in his address dedicated to the criminal act of genocide against the peaceful Ossetian population committed by the Georgian forces on May 20, 1992.
As noted by the Embassy, on that day, exhausted by endless shelling from the Georgian armed forces in besieged Tskhinval, driven by fear, women, children and the elderly were sowing salvation and hope to wait out the war in a safe place.
"However, fate had prepared a painful death for the peaceful Ossetian residents at the hands of the nationalist executioners. A column of cars and trucks was shot in cold blood by the Georgian armed forces, inspired by their leadership's ideology of superiority, under the slogans of which the Ossetian population was being exterminated in 1920, 1989-2008. On that tragic day, 33 civilians were killed on the Zar Road of Life.
The atrocity of the criminals remain unpunished to this day," the diplomatic mission has noted .
The General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic had opened a criminal case on the fact of the the monstrous murder of civilians on the Zar Road.
"The participants in the mass war crimes against the people of South Ossetia have been identified, but the official authorities of Georgia, on whose territory the perpetrators are hiding, are preventing their detention.
The states that encourage the Nazi ideas must be harshly and directly condemned by the world community. The idea of the superiority of one nation over others has no right to exist; it is destructive to universal human values. Unfortunately, there are many adherents in today's Georgian society, and they pose a great threat to the entire civilized world," the Embassy has noted.
South Ossetia once again called for condemnation of the ethnic cleansing committed by Georgia against the peaceful Ossetian population.
"The states that tolerate Nazi ideas and justify fascism must be harshly and directly condemned by the world community, since impunity and encouragement of Nazism give rise to new crimes against humanity," the appeal says.
