The Fall of Sukhumi took place on 27 September 1993, at the hands of the separatists, in the course of the

War in Abkhazia War in Abkhazia may refer to: *War in Abkhazia (1992–1993) The War in Abkhazia was fought between Georgian government and paramilitary forces, and a coalition of Abkhaz separatist forces and North Caucasian militants between 1992 and 1993 ...

. The taking of the city came with a massacre of hundreds of Georgians, and it became part of a violent

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...

campaign carried out by the separatists. The massacre was perpetrated against Georgian civilians of Sukhumi, mainly by militia forces of Abkhaz separatists and

North Caucasian North Caucasus or North Caucasian may refer to: Current entities * North Caucasus, the part of Russia north of the watershed divide formed by the spine of the Caucasus Mountains * North Caucasian languages * North Caucasian Federal District, create ...

allies.

Military operations

On 27 September 1993, separatist forces violated the ceasefire initiated by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and guaranteed by the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, which barred both sides from performing military operations. As part of the ceasefire, Georgian forces had withdrawn their heavy artillery and tanks from Sukhumi. Abkhaz,

Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus The Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus (CMPC; ; until 1991 known as Assembly of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus) was a militarised political organisation in the North Caucasus, active around the time of before the collapse of the ...

and

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

militants stormed Sukhumi early in the morning. Confronted by large numbers of combatants, the Georgian army units that remained in the city were unable to prevent the separatist advance into the city. By noon, separatist militants and their allies had taken over television buildings and bridges. Georgian forces retreated to the Government building of the Abkhazian Autonomous Republic, where they intended to provide security for members of

Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia The Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia is an administration established in exile by Georgia as the ''de jure'' government of its separatist region of Abkhazia. Abkhazia has been '' de facto'' independent from Georgia – though ...

. By late afternoon, the city was overrun by separatists and their allies.

Ethnic cleansing

Placing their hopes on the ceasefire, a large number of civilians remained in the city. The separatists and their allies started to sweep through the streets of Sukhumi rounding up all civilians that they found. Men, women and children were executed in the streets, on the roads and inside their own apartments, houses and back yards. According to the witnesses, many people became objects of torture, and some were forced to watch as their own family members were killed—children in front of their parents, and parents in front of their children.Chervonnaia, Svetlana Mikhailovna. Conflict in the Caucasus: Georgia, Abkhazia, and the Russian Shadow. Gothic Image Publications, 1994. The massacres occurred in the city park, in front of the governmental building, in schools and hospitals. Almost all members of the Abkhaz government (those who refused to leave the city) —

Zhiuli Shartava Zhiuli Shartava (; March 7, 1944 – September 27, 1993) was a Georgian politician and National Hero who served as the Head of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and was killed by Abkhaz militants during the ethnic cleansing ...

Guram Gabiskiria Guram Gabeskiria ( ka, გურამ გაბესკირია; 2 March 1947 – 27 September 1993) was a Georgian Abkhaz politician who served as mayor of Sukhumi. He was murdered by separatists during the ethnic cleansing of Georgians ...

, Alexander Berulava,

Mamia Alasania Mamia Alasania ( ka, მამია ალასანია) was a colonel of the Georgian Armed Forces, defending the Government of the Georgian Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia from Abkhaz separatists during the conflict in Abkhazia in 1990s. W ...

, and Raul Eshba — were captured and executed. The 1994 U.S. State Department Country Reports also describes scenes of massive human rights abuse:

Aftermath

Eduard Shevardnadze Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia (country), Georgi ...

fled the city only just before the arrival of separatist forces, having earlier committed to try to remain there as long as possible. Soon the forces overran the whole territory of Abkhazia, except a small region of the

Kodori Gorge , , photo = , photo_caption = , map = Caucasus mountains#Georgia#Georgia Abkhazia , map_image = , map_caption = , location = , country_type = Internationally recognised ...

(which remained under the control of the Georgian warlord

Emzar Kvitsiani Emzar Kvitsiani ( ka, ემზარ კვიციანი, ; born 25 April 1961) is a former Georgian military commander and politician. He took part in the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993), forming a paramilitary group '' Monadire'' in the u ...

until July 2006 and later the

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

government until August 2008). The total defeat of the Georgian government forces was followed by the ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population. 200,000 - 250,000 refugees (mainly Georgians) were forced out of Abkhazia. Violence continued in 1994 despite an agreement between the Georgian and Abkhazian governments for the deployment of a peacekeeping force from the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

. Chechen militants who had fought on the side of Abkhazia later took part in the

First Chechen War The First Chechen War, also referred to as the First Russo-Chechen War, was a struggle for independence waged by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the invading Russia, Russian Federation from 1994 to 1996. After a mutually agreed on treaty ...

Responsibility for the massacre

There are a number of conflicting claims as to whether the massacre was conducted by Abkhaz militias or those of their North Caucasian allies. Allegedly, the commander of the separatist forces, partly responsible for the massacre was the deputy defence minister and "hero" of Abkhazia Shamil Basaev. According to witness testimonies, the militants spoke

North Caucasian languages The North Caucasian languages, sometimes called simply Caucasic, is a proposed language family consisting of a pair of well established language families spoken in the Caucasus, predominantly in the north, consisting of the Northwest Caucasian ...

and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. However, some refugees who survived the massacre have claimed that they recognized their Abkhaz and

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

neighbours collaborating with the militants during the massacres in various neighbourhoods. Many people recall the commands given by Russian officers: "Do not take prisoners alive!"Andersen, Andrew (October 2001). "Russia Versus Georgia: One Undeclared War in the Caucasus".

Notes

Bibliography

* Chervonnaia, Svetlana Mikhailovna. ''Conflict in the Caucasus: Georgia, Abkhazia, and the Russian Shadow''. Gothic Image Publications, 1994. * Human Rights Watch
"Georgia/Abkhazia: Violations of the Laws of War and Russia's Role in the Conflict"
Published on hrw.org, March 1995. * Lynch, Dov. ''The Conflict in Abkhazia: Dilemmas in Russian 'Peacekeeping' Policy''. Royal Institute of International Affairs, February 1998. * Marshania L. ''Tragedy of Abkhazia'' Moscow, 1996 * ''White Book of Abkhazia''. 1992–1993 Documents, Materials, Evidences. Moscow, 1993. * Derluguian, Georgi M., ''The Tale of Two Resorts: Abkhazia and Ajaria Before and Since the Soviet Collapse'', in Beverly Crawford and Ronnie D Lipschutz (eds.), "The Myth of 'Ethnic Conflict': Politics, Economics, and Cultural Violence" (Berkeley: University of California, 1998). p. 263

External links

Violations of the laws of war and Russia's role in the conflict
report by

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

Documented accounts of ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia
(Russian)
Video file, capture of Zhuili Shartava, Guram Gabiskiria, Raul Eshba, etc and their execution
(right-click to open file)
Video file, ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia
(right-click to open file)
''Sukhumi 27.09.93 (Video)''
(

wmv Windows Media Video (WMV) is a series of video codecs and their corresponding video coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Windows Media framework. WMV consists of three distinct codecs: the original video compression technolog ...

) {{Georgian-Abkhazian conflict Mass murder in 1993 Abkhaz–Georgian conflict War crimes in Georgia (country) Massacres in Georgia (country) Ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia 1993 in Georgia (country) 1993 crimes in Georgia (country)

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

1990s murders in Georgia (country) 1993 in Abkhazia Sukhumi Anti-Georgian sentiment September 1993 in Asia Ethnic persecution Battles involving the Circassians