Ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia The ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia , also known as the massacres of Georgians in Abkhazia and genocide of Georgians in Abkhazia ( ) ( according to Georgian sources ) — refers to ethnic cleansing , massacres and forced mass expulsion of thousands of ethnic Georgians living in Abkhazia ( " de jure " an Autonomous Republic within Georgia ) during the Georgian - Abkhaz conflict of 1992 – 1993 and 1998 at the hands of Abkhaz separatists and their allies ( possibly , including volunteers from Russia ) . Armenians , Greeks , Russians and moderate Abkhaz were also killed . Roughly 200 , 000 to 250 , 000 Georgian civilians became Internally displaced person s ( IDPs ) . The ethnic cleansing and massacres of Georgians has been officially recognized by the Organization for Security and Co - operation in Europe ( OSCE ) conventions in 1994 , 1996 and again in 1997 during the Budapest , Lisbon and Istanbul summits and condemned the " perpetrators of war crimes committed during the conflict . " On May 15 , 2008 , the United Nations General Assembly adopted ( by 14 votes to 11 , with 105 abstentions ) a resolution A / RES / 62 / 249 in which it " Emphasizes the importance of preserving the property rights of refugees and internally displaced persons from Abkhazia , Georgia , including victims of reported " ethnic cleansing " , and calls upon all Member States to deter persons under their jurisdiction from obtaining property within the territory of Abkhazia , Georgia in violation of the rights of returnees " . The UN Security Council passed a series of resolutions in which it appealed for a cease - fire . Background . Prior to the 1992 War , Georgians made up nearly half of Abkhazia ' s population , while less than one - fifth of the population was Abkhaz . In contrast , in 1926 the two populations were nearly balanced at around one - third each , with Russians , Armenians and Greeks constituting the remainder . Large - scale immigration of Georgians , Russians and Armenians allowed their respective populations to balloon ; while the Abkhaz population had not even doubled by 1989 , the Georgian population had nearly quadrupled from 67 , 494 to 239 , 872 , the Armenian population had tripled and the Russian population had sextupled . Military conflict in Abkhazia . In 1992 , the political situation in Abkhazia changed into the military confrontation between Georgian government and Abkhaz separatists . The fighting escalated as Georgian Interior and Defence Ministry forces along with police units took Sukhumi and came near the city of Gudauta . The ethnically - based policies initiated by the Georgians in Sukhumi created simultaneously refugees and a core of fighters determined to regain lost homes . However , as the war progressed , the Abkhaz separatist have carried out same policies of violent displacement of ethnic Georgians from their homes in greater proportions which has left 250 , 000 people being forcefully evicted from their homes . Under the alleged aid from Russia , they managed to re - arm and organize " volunteer battalions " from North Caucasus . According to political analyst Georgy Mirsky , the Russian military base in Gudauta was , " supplying the Abkhazian side with weapons and ammunition . " Furthermore he adds that , " no direct proof of this has ever been offered , but it would be more naïve to believe that the tanks , rockets , howitzers , pieces of ordnance , and other heavy weapons that the anti - Georgian coalition forces were increasing using in their war had been captured from the enemy . " This anti - Georgian military coalition were made up of North Caucasian Group " The Confederates of Mountain People of Caucasus " , Shamil Basaev ' s Chechen division " Grey Wolf , " Armenian battalion " Bagramian , " Cossacks , militants from Transnistria and various Russian special units . According to Political Scientist Bruno Coppieters , " Western governments took some diplomatic initiatives in the United Nations and made up an appeal to Moscow to halt an active involvement of its military forces in the conflict . UN Security Council passed series of resolutions in which is appeals for a cease - fire and condemned the Abkhazian policy of ethnic - cleansing . " Confronted with hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians who were unwilling to leave their homes , the Abkhaz side implemented the process of ethnic cleansing in order to expel and eliminate the Georgian ethnic population in Abkhazia . The exact number of those killed during the ethnic cleansing is disputed , however , it ranges from 8 , 000 to 10 , 000 people , not including the civilians who were killed in 1998 during the separatist onslaught on Gali region . Roughly 200 , 000 to 250 , 000 ethnic Georgians were expelled from their homes . The campaign ethnic cleansing also included Russians , Armenians , Greeks , moderate Abkhaz and other minor ethnic groups living in Abkhazia . More than 20 , 000 houses owned by ethnic Georgians were destroyed . Hundreds of Schools , kindergartens , churches , hospitals , historical monuments were pillaged and destroyed . The 1994 U . S . State Department Country Reports describes scenes of massive human rights abuse , also supported by Human Rights Watch based on their own findings . According to U . S . State Department Country Report on Conflict in Abkhazia ( Georgia ) : After the end of the war , the government of Georgia , the United Nations , the Organization for Security and Co - operation in Europe ( OSCE ) , and the refugees began to investigate and gather facts about the allegations of genocide , ethnic cleansing and deportation which was conducted by the Abkhaz side during the conflict . In 1994 and again in 1996 the OSCE during the Budapest summit gave its official recognition of ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia and condemned the " perpetrators of war crimes committed during the conflict . " On March 2006 , the Hague War Crimes Tribunal announced that it had reviewed all the documents submitted by the Georgian side . After a full - scale investigation , the Tribunal concluded that it would prosecute and start hearings against the campaign of ethnic cleansing , war - crimes and terror inflicted on ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia . According to Catherine Dale from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees : Facts of ethnic cleansing ( 1992 – 1993 ) . Following are few examples taken from the Helsinki Human Rights Watch Reports and documentation submitted for the review to United Nations and Hague War Crimes Tribunal . Fall of Gagra . On September 3 , 1992 , the Russian mediated agreement was signed between Georgian and Abkhaz separatist sides which obliged Georgia to withdraw its military forces from the city of Gagra . The agreement forced Abkhaz separatists from Gudauta to hold their attacks on the city . Soon after , the Georgian forces which included Shavnabada , Avaza and White Eagle battalions ( along with their tanks and heavy artillery ) left the city . Only small pockets of armed groups ( made up of volunteers units of the ethnic Georgians of Gagra ) remained . However , on October 1 , the Abkhaz side violated the agreement and launched a full scale attack on Gagra . The attack was well coordinated and mainly carried out by the Chechen ( under the command of Shamil Basaev ) and North Caucasian militants . Meantime in Gagra , Georgian small detachments lost the control of the city suburbs ( Leselidze and Kolkhida ) and eventually were destroyed in the city center by the end of October 1 . With the fall of the city , the Georgian population of Gagra was captured by the separatists and their allies . The first major massacres and ethnic - cleansing were committed during the fall of Gagra . People of all ages were rounded up from Gagra , Leselidze , Kolkhida and killed . When the separatist militants entered the city , civilians became a target of mass murder . The main targets were young people and children . According to the witness account : Women and young girls captured by the militants became the victims of rape and torture . One elderly Georgian woman who lived through the October attack in Gagra recounted the following : " They brought over a blind man and his brother , who always stayed with him . They began to beat the blind man , his brother and his wife with a gun butt , calling him " dog ! " and kicking him . He fell over . I saw blood . One soldier said : " We won ' t kill you , but where are the young girls ? " I said there weren ' t any . " After the fall of Gagra , the victors started to pillage , rape , and torture followed by summary executions of everyone who was captured and failed to flee the city in time . At 5 : 00 pm on October 1 , civilians ( approximately 1000 – 1500 people ) were rounded up and placed under the guard at the soccer stadium in downtown Gagra . On October 6 , close to 50 civilians had been found hanging on electricity poles . Soon after , children , elderly , women and men who were detained on the soccer stadium were gunned down and dumped in mass graves not far from the stadium . A Russian military observer Mikhail Demianov ( who was accused by the Georgian side of being the military advisor to the separatist leader Ardzinba ) told Human Rights Watch : UN observers started to investigate and gather all the facts concerning the war crimes during the fall of Gagra . Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia Mikhail Jinjaradze was dragged out from his office and executed . Massacre in Kamani . After the failed attempt of the separatist forces and their allies to storm Sukhumi on March 14 , 1993 , Abkhaz diverted their main forces to the northern side of the front line which divided Georgian held Sukhumi and separatist controlled territories . On July 4 , the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus militia , Abkhaz formations , and Armenian Bagramyan battalion transported by allegedly Russian naval forces to the city of Tkhvarcheli began their offensive on the northern Sukhumi district . Georgian forces and local volunteer units ( including Ukrainian nationalist organization members ( UNA - UNSO ) which fought at Georgian side as volunteers ) stationed in the villages of Shroma , Tamishi and Kamani were taken by surprise . On July 5 , after intensive fighting , Georgians lost as many as 500 people in a couple of hours . The village of Kamani fell into the hands of separatist formations and their North Caucasian allies . Kamani was populated mainly by Svans ( a sub - ethnic group of the Georgian people ) and by Orthodox nuns who had been living in the church of St George located in the center of the village . The local villagers ( including women and children ) were massacred while the church of St George became the scene of a blood bath . The nuns were raped and killed in front of the orthodox priests , father Yuri Anua and father Andria . Both priests were taken outside of the church and questioned about the ownership of the land in Abkhazia . After answering that Abkhazia was neither Georgian nor Abkhaz land but God ' s , they were shot by a confederate soldier . Another priest was killed along with father Yuri Anua and father Andria , an ethnic Abkhaz who was forced to shoot father Andria before he was killed . Approximately , 120 inhabitants of the village were massacred . Fall of Sukhumi . Thomas Goltz , a war correspondent who visited Abkhazia during the war , recalls that Russian MIG - 29 s dropped 500 kilograms of vacuum bombs which mainly targeted the residential areas of Sukhumi and villages on Gumista River . The Russian journalist Dmitry Kholodov stayed in Sukhumi before it fell to separatists and wrote couple of report from the besieged city , On July 27 , 1993 , a Russian - brokered trilateral agreement on a cease - fire and principles for the solution of the Georgian - Abkhazian conflict was signed . Once again Georgian military started to withdraw all of its heavy artillery , tanks and significant number of its troops from Sukhumi . The Abkhaz separatists along with their allies were bound by the agreement to hold their offensive and heavy bombardment of the city . In return , the Georgian side was reassured by Russia that Sukhumi would not be attacked or bombed if Georgian army would complete its withdrawal . The Georgian troops along with their tanks were evacuated by the Russian military ships to the city of Poti . The city was left without any significant military defense . A large number of civilians stayed in Sukhumi and all school were re - opened on September 1 . The large number of IDPs returned to their homes and the normal life resumed in Sukhumi . According to Shevardnadze he trusted Yeltsin and the Russian guarantees and therefore , asked the population to return . However , the Abkhaz separatists , North Caucasian Volunteers , Cossacks and Russian special forces attacked Sukhumi on September 16 at 8 a . m . It marked the beginning of 12 days non - stop fighting around the besieged Sukhumi with intensive fighting and human loss from the both sides . Georgians who stayed in the city with only rifles and AK 47 s were left without any defense from artillery or mechanized units . The union of theater actors of Sukhumi joined fighting along with other civilians who decided to fight . The city was mercilessly bombed by Russian air forces and separatist artillery . On September 27 , the city fell as Abkhaz , Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus ( CMPC ) and Russian units stormed the House of the Government of Abkhazia . One of the most horrific massacres of this war was waged on the civilian population of Sukhumi after its downfall . During the storming of the city , close to 1 , 000 people perished as Abkhaz formations overran the streets of the city . The civilians who were trapped in the city were taken from their houses , basements and apartment building . In Tamaz Nadareishvili ' s book , " Genocide in Abkhazia " , the eye witness interviews of the IDPs includes the following account by the elderly Georgian refugee who survived the war : The separatists and their allies captured the Chairman of the Supreme Council Zhiuli Shartava , the Mayor of Sukhumi Guram Gabiskiria , Mamia Alasania and other members of the Abkhaz government including the members of Sukhumi police . Initially they were promised safety , but eventually killed , and the UN report mentions Shartava being excessively tortured . A Georgian women who survived Sukhumi massacre , recalls her ordeal in an interview with Russian film director Andrei Nekrasov , The massacres continued after the fall of Sukhumi for about two weeks . Georgians who had failed to flee the city had been hiding in abandoned apartment buildings and house basements . Upon discovery by the militants , they were killed on the spot . One of the most brutal massacres of the war was committed during this period . Video materials show a 5 year old child being brutally killed by Abkhaz militant in front of his mother on the streets of Sukhumi . Abkhaz nationals were also targeted during the Sukhumi massacres . Anyone who had tried to hide a Georgian refugee or helped in any way was condemned and killed . " Temur Kutarba , an Abhazian , was killed by an Adighe Soldier in front of his children , for not being active in killing Georgians . V . Vadakaria , 23 and his Abhazian friend , who tried to defend him , both were killed . " Ochamchire . Approximately 400 Georgian families were killed during the Abkhaz offensive on Ochamchire . Similar to Gagra events of 1992 , the local inhabitants were driven to the city soccer stadium Akhaldaba . Men , women and children were separated from each other . Within hours , the men were executed while women and teenagers were raped and later killed . According to witness accounts , Abkhaz separatist organized detention camps where teenage girls and women were kept for 25 days . During this period they were systematically raped and abused . Besides the atrocities being committed against civilians , more than 50 Georgian prisoners of war were executed . The mass killing of civilians also occurred in other parts of the Ochamchire district , mainly in Kochara ( heavily populated by ethnic Georgians , 5340 persons according to pre - war estimates ) . Approximately 235 civilians were killed and 1000 houses were destroyed . The former resident of Ochamchire district , Leila Goletiani , who was taken prisoner by Abkhaz separatists , gave the following account of her captivity to the Russian film director Andrei Nekrasov : Gali . After the fall of Sukhumi , the only region in Abkhazia which maintained its large ethnic Georgian population was Gali . The ethnic composition of Gali region differed from the rest of Abkhazia . The region was mainly populated by ethnic Georgians and never experienced any military activity during the war . In the beginning of 1994 , Abkhaz separatists confronted by the reality of the large ethnic Georgian presence within the borders of Abkhazia continued its policy of ethnic cleansing and forced expulsion of ethnic Georgians . United Nations observers witnessed the events of 94 as they unfolded . Between February 8 and 13 Abkhaz separatist militia and their allies attacked the villages and populated areas of Gali region , killing , raping and destroying houses ( approximately 4 , 200 houses were destroyed as the result ) . Despite the presence of Russian CIS peacekeeping forces , the massacres and mass killing of ethnic Georgians was carried out between 1995 and 1996 which resulted in 450 death and thousands of IDPs fleeing eastwards . Post - war period . The Human Rights Watch report which was drafted in 1995 and included detailed account of the war crimes and atrocities committed during the war concludes that , " Human Rights Watch finds Abkhaz forces responsible for the foreseeable wave of revenge , human rights abuse , and war crimes that was unleashed on the Georgian population in Sukhumi and other parts of Abkhazia . In Human Rights Watch ' s judgment , these practices were indeed encouraged in order to drive the Georgian population from its homes . " The legacy of ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia had been devastating for the Georgian society . The war and the subsequent systematic ethnic cleansing produced about 200 , 000 - 250 , 000 of IDPs that fled to various Georgian regions , mostly in Samegrelo ( Mingrelia ) ( 112 , 208 ; UNHCR , June 2000 ) . In Tbilisi and elsewhere in Georgia refugees occupy hundreds of hotels , dormitories and abandoned Soviet military barracks for temporary residency . Many of them have to leave for other countries , primarily to Russia , to search for work . Many refugees living in Georgia resist assimilation into the Georgian society . Georgia ' s government also has not encouraged the assimilation of the refugees fearing that it would " lose one of the arguments for retaining hegemony over Abkhazia " . Some 60 , 000 Georgian refugees spontaneously returned to Abkhazia ' s Gali district between 1994 and 1998 , but tens of thousands were displaced again when fighting resumed in the Gali district in 1998 . Nevertheless from 40 , 000 to 60 , 000 refugees have returned to the Gali district since 1998 , including persons commuting daily across the ceasefire line and those migrating seasonally in accordance with agricultural cycles . The human rights situation remains precarious in the Georgian - populated areas of the Gali district . The United Nations and other international organizations have been fruitlessly urging the Abkhaz de facto authorities " to refrain from adopting measures incompatible with the right to return and with international human rights standards , such as discriminatory legislation . . . [ and ] to cooperate in the establishment of a permanent international human rights office in Gali and to admit United Nations civilian police without further delay . "