14.04.2009 23:13 | Why?

The 9th of August, 2008 was the last day of Abaeva Leila Pavlovna life. She used to live in Moscow with her family, but three years ago she came to Tskhinval to see her old mother, who didn’t want to leave her house and go miles and miles away not at any price. “What should I be doing in Moscow? My home is here and I am going to spend here the rest of my life” – she used to say. Leila loved Tskhinval very much too, it was her native town, and great number of her friends lived there. On the eve of well-known August events the tensions were growing with every day. There was not a day or a night without heavy shelling of peaceful Tskhinval. A lot of townspeople went from Tskhinval as far as possible. They advised Leila to return to Moscow too, but she always answered that her house was here now and she had to share her nation’s fate till the last. Though, as she confessed, her heart was heavy and she was gripped by mortal fear when the next bombardment used to begin.

But could she suppose her young, beautiful life would come to the end and she would be killed by Georgians, with whom she became related many years ago and dreaming of love and happiness cast in her lot with that nation.

10.04.2009 23:29 | He was looking forward to meeting his mother

Vladislav Gazzayev (Hurum) died as a hero during the military operations together with his friends Vilen Chibirov and Victor Tadtaev trying to rescue the hostages, taken by Georgians in the area of 12-th schools. All three of them died.

At the outset of Georgian aggression Vladik made a stand for native Tskhinval. Hewas 35 yearsold.

He lived with his aged grandmother Natasha Gagloeva (she was 85 years old) and his uncle, the invalid of the second group. Vladik was the sheet-anchor of their life. It is hard to the grandmother to talk about her dead grandson, she cries all the time. “Vladik was the matchless person. He was kind and sensitive. He loved his granny very much, took cared of her and of his ill uncle. He did all domestic chores and even prepared food for his grandma and uncle by himself. During the fights Vladik came home for some minutes to visit us and the grandmother. He reassured us, saying we shall come through all right and Georgians will never win a victory over Ossetians”, - Dunya Gazzayeva, the neigbour bearing the same family, says.

It turned out, that after the divorce of his parents Vladik was brought up by the grandma. His mother left for the Ukraine, where she came from. Vladik used to get in touch on the phone with her, but haven’t seen his mother for more than 10 years. As Dunya Gazzayeva said, Vladik was going to the Ukraine. He even got a ticket for August, 18. “He was looking forward to meeting his mother very much” - the neigbour said.

10.04.2009 23:23 | Tokaeva Elvira Georgievna, born in 1955, the resident of village Grom, Tskhinvalski area of RSO

In the morning of August, 8 about 05.10 a.m. a big explosion occurred. I already woke up. My mother-in-law is paralyzed, she also has a skin cancer and therefore can't sleep. I used to get up periodically at night to see her. That morning I looked out and suddenly such a shooting began, that my ears were blocked. I have hidden and when it became a bit calmer, I looked out of the window and saw our neighbours running somewhere. I asked them: “What’s happened?” The neigbour ran into and said: “What are you going to do? The war has begun! Georgians have stormed into the village!” I couldn’t leave my sick mother-in-law and save my own life by fleeing. She would die without nursing; there is nobody to give her a medicine, nobody to nurse.

And the residents of the village which is how got into the all cars they found in a village and drove away. Some people ran for the forest and hid there. All this time Georgians continued the bombardment of the village and the roads.

Suddenly our neighbour drove a car here and cried: “Elvira, why are you standing?! Georgians are already in the village! Some residents of the village are wounded. Rusiko, Hariton and some other men are wounded. We must run!” I said: “I cannot leave my mother-in-law. I can not flee.” Then he went away without us. We were alone in the village. I had been with my mother-in-law and my neigbour had been with her sick mum. They were so frightened of a morning cannonade they have hidden and everybody kept knocking in vain. Everybody thought they already left. In general, they moved to our place. We put the patients in a cellar. Though my mother-in-law cannot be moved categorically, we had to do it; in other case Georgians could enter and kill her.

10.04.2009 23:20 | He died defending the peace

Ahsar Kelehsaev (born in 1966) is one more peacemaker killed by Georgian aggressors.

Ahsar began to serve in peace-making forces of RNO-Alania in 2004. He was the gunner. For the conscientious work he was awarded by battalion command. Earlier he used to work as a mechanic at knitting factory of Tskhinval.

Ahsar died of severe wound, which he received confronting the Georgian aggression on August, 9 at village Tbet.

Ahsar`s mother, Nazi Turmanova-Kelehsaeva is going haywire with grief.

“When the aggression just began I left for Beslan together with Ahsar`s daughters to see my sister.  -  The mother tells. – I was very worried about my son who had been carrying out his service since the first day of Georgian attack.

We could not get in touch with him. I didn’t know where he had been and what’s happened to him. I couldn't sleep a wink the nights, my hart was with him.

There were a telecast about Ardon hospital at local TV and suddenly I saw my son among the wounded, who were taken there from Tskhinval. When I came to the hospital to see him, he was covered in bandages and could scarcely speak”.

10.04.2009 22:58 | Georgians shot her when she wanted to enter the shelter

Several months ago there was an eventful proceeding in a life of 20-year-old Regina Puhaeva – she got married. The newly-weds lived in Dzau, where her husband came from. Near the beginning of August happy Regina came for a few days to see her parents, who lived in area Shanghai, in a hostel of agricultural college. She was at her parents` home when the surprise attack of Georgian army on South Ossetia began; she didn’t manage to leave for Dzau, where her husband had been. During the bombardments of Georgian artillery Regina together with her parents and the neighbours took cover in a basement of a hostel.

On August, 9 Georgian armoured units and infantry entered this urban district. As the eyewitness of the tragedy Maiya Tskhovrebova, the neigbour of Puhaev`s family says, Georgian soldiers were extremely cruel in their outrages.

“The Georgian tank stopped in front of our hostel, it fired at the building of a hostel and dwelling houses. After a while the group of Georgian soldiers entered a hostel. They shouted, called the roomers out of the shelter. They forced doors open and threw the grenades into the rooms, shot. We took cover in a basement and were trembling with fear. We thought these barbarians were just about to find us and inflict reprisals, but, fortunately, they went away soon, probably they had been in a hurry.