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The Ruckus In The Caucasus: A Case Against Mikheil Saakashvili For Crimes Against Humanity In The August War, Yancy Cottrill

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

While the world's attention was focused on the fireworks display of the 2008 Olympic Games in China, the citizens of South Ossetia were watching the sky too. Only their sky was being lit up by warfare. At 7:30 p.m. on August 7, 2008, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, held a televised speech promising the Ossetians a ceasefire and unlimited autonomy.' At 11:00 p.m., Saakashvili ordered the Georgian Army to launch an offensive on Tskhinvalli, the capital of South Ossetia. Over the next five days, the civilians of South Ossetia and Abkhazia would be directly targeted by the Georgian forces and forcibly …