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HRIDC Report on Khurcha Incident – Factual Event or Machiavellian Conspiracy?

March 5, 2009

Executive Summary

• The 2008 Khurcha incident refers to the attack on buses in the Georgian village of Khurcha, near the ceasefire line with the internationally unrecognized breakaway region Republic of Abkhazia that has recently been recognized by the Russian Federation.

• The attack took place on Parliamentary Election Day May 21 2008 injuring 3 people.

• Despite Georgian accusations that the attack was carried out by Abkhazian separatists, subsequent investigations revealed, that it was most likely staged by the Georgian security services, confirmed by independent investigations.

• On May 22, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights Centre of Georgia carried out an investigation on the attack. They determined that the buses had directly arrived to the football pitch, rather than proceeding first to a polling station in Zugdidi as claimed.

• Suspiciously the Georgian media had already been assembled at the scene before the incident took place. Moreover, Georgian security troops were immediately present at the scene of the incident even though Khurcha lies within the demilitarized zone, the nearest base being 15 minutes away.

• The investigators further determined that the attack had been launched from a distance of ony 100 meters from the Georgian side of the border, that is, the side opposite to the ceasefire line.

• Local eye witnesses all stated that they believed the attack had been staged by the Georgians rather than the Abkhaz as reported in the Georgian media.

• Another investigation was carried out by the Studio Reporter (an independent documentary producer) in Tbilisi. They produced a documentary about the incident stating that the attack was staged by the Georgian security service and backed this up with convincing evidence.

• Local residents reported, that they had been asked to come to the football field for a video shoot, without voting being mentioned.  read more... 

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