Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili Tuesday strongly denied accusations his armed forces had committed war crimes during an August offensive in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia.
The BBC reported Georgian troops had used indiscriminate force, turning their guns and tanks on civilian targets. Eyewitness accounts of the incursion details civilians being shot as they fled areas of conflict.
Saaksashvili today denied any claims of wrongdoing and called for an international investigation into the allegations.
“We strongly deny .. accusation of war crimes,” he said. “But of course, we are very open for any kind of comments, we are very open for any kind of investigation.”
South Ossetia and the northeastern region of Abkhazia broke from Georgia in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Georgia launched a military offensive in August in an effort to reclaim the region following months of intervention on both sides.
