On anniversary of "five-day war", residents of Georgia commemorate casualties

On the 13th anniversary of the start of the 2008 "five-day war", relatives of those who perished therein have visited the fraternal cemetery and memorials in Tbilisi. Five European states have made statements in support of the territorial integrity of Georgia.

The "Sputnik Georgia" reports that in Tbilisi, politicians and casualties' relatives are visiting the fraternal cemetery of Mukhatgverdi, where Georgian militaries were buried.

On August 7, five countries – Rumania, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Slovakia, as well as individual MEPs and members of the US Senate expressed support for the territorial integrity of Georgia, the "News-Georgia" has reported.

The hostilities brought suffering to many residents of both South Ossetia and Georgia, the journalists and human rights defenders who were eyewitnesses of events used to write then. Women and children "trembled in basements for two days while the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, was poured with 'Grad' missile complexes," said Tatiana Lokshina, the Programme Director of the Human Rights Watch for Russia.

Some of the hardest memories of the war for Georgians are associated with Russian airstrikes and tanks in outskirts of Tbilisi, local residents have stated.

"It was very scary – you saw a bomber flying at your house, and you don't know where to run," said Anna, a resident of Tbilisi. According to her story, all the families who had cars immediately left the city; only those who had no personal transport or had nowhere to go remained.