He died near his house
23.03.2009 // 22:31

The 72-year-old Tskhinval resident Hadzhumar Margiev died near his house situated in Pobeda St., as a result of bombardment of the city.

As Hadzhumar`s neighbors Botaz Tsaritov and Roman Bikoev, the eyewitnesses of his tragical death say, Hadzhumar together with his wife Zemphira, as well as all his neighbors, took cover in the basement of his house during heavy shelling of the city.

He took care of his paralyzed spouse, which could not move. They were alone in the house: their sons and the daughter lived in Russia.

“In the evening of August, 8 the fire became calmer a little bit. By this time our civil guardsmen managed to oust the enemy forces from the city. We came out on the street to take a breath of air for a minute together with Hadzhumar and our neighbor Vyacheslav Bitiev, we were standing near Hadzhumar`s house, - say Botaz and Roman. - It was already dark. Someonecameoutwithalantern, someonestartedsmoking.

Probably, Georgians who located on the heights of Tskhinval, watched the streets of city from the devices of night vision and noticed us. Then a powerful explosion occurred near our place: the shell hit the next house and destroyed it almost completely. A shock wave threw us aside. The shrapnel hit Hadzhumar`s belly cavity, cut up all inside. He was taken to the hospital, but they didn’t manage to save his life. On the second day, on August, 9, Hadzhumar died.

We were afraid to say his wife that tragical news about her husband. She was ill and we worried that she couldn’t stand the news about Hadzhumar`s death. She was the apple of his eye.

On August, 10 the relatives of Margievs family came to Tskhinval and buried Hadzhumar in Zguderskoje cemetery.

When the shell landed next the house of Hadzhumar, Roman Bikoev and Vyacheslav Bitiev, which were near to him, received splinter wounds. Both of them were treated in Northern Ossetia, their state of health is out of danger now.

“When the shell hit the next house, me and Vyacheslav managed to sit down, and it saved us. The shrapnel flew right above our heads” – Botaz Tsaritov said. He added, that Georgians continued to fire at them, several private houses on this street burned to the ground in result of a hit of the shells.

Soslan Tigiev

Translated by Tatiana Inozentseva