[3] The ethnic cleansing and massacres of Georgians have been officially recognized by Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) conventions in 1994, 1996, and 1999 during the Budapest, Lisbon, and Istanbul summits, which condemned the "perpetrators of war crimes committed during the conflict.

"[12][13][14] On 15 May 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted (by 14 votes to 11, with 105 abstentions) resolution A/RES/62/249, which "[e]mphasizes the importance of preserving the property rights of refugees and internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, Georgia, including victims of reported "ethnic cleansing," and calls upon all the Member States to deter persons under their jurisdiction from obtaining property within the territory of Abkhazia, Georgia in violation of the rights of returnees.

[17] A two-thirds majority was to be required to pass "important legislation" to ensure that key decisions would not be taken without approval from both Abkhaz and Georgian deputies and each side would hold veto power in principle.

Ardzinba, who was a charismatic but excitable figure popular among the Abkhaz, was believed by Georgians to have helped to instigate the violence of July 1989.

The fighting escalated as Georgian Interior and Defence Ministry forces, along with police units, took Sukhumi and came near the city of Gudauta.

The ethnically based policies initiated by the Georgians in Sukhumi simultaneously created refugees and a core of fighters determined to regain lost homes.

[6] However, as the war progressed, the Abkhaz separatists carried out similar policies of violent displacement of ethnic Georgians in greater proportions, which saw 250,000 people forcefully evicted from their homes.

According to political analyst Georgy Mirsky, the Russian military base in Gudauta was, "supplying the Abkhazian side with weapons and ammunition.

"[8] Furthermore, he adds that "no direct proof of this has ever been offered, but it would be more naïve to believe that the tanks, rockets, howitzers, pieces of ordnance, and other heavy weapons that the anti-Georgian coalition forces were increasing using in their war had been captured from the enemy.

"[8] The anti-Georgian military coalition was made up of the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, Shamil Basaev's "Grey Wolf" Chechen division, the Armenian Bagramyan Battalion, Cossacks, militants from Transnistria, and various Russian special units.

[10][22][23][24][25] Musa Shanibov, one of the leaders of the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, said during his speech to the militants from said organization in 1992: Our enemy must see how we're uniting and gaining strength.

According to U.S. State Department Country Report on Conflict in Abkhazia (Georgia): {{quotation|The [Abkhaz] separatist forces committed widespread atrocities against the Georgian civilian population, killing many women, children, and elderly, capturing some as hostages and torturing others ... they also killed large numbers of Georgian civilians who remained behind in Abkhaz-seized territory ...

Corpses recovered from Abkhaz-held territory showed signs of extensive torture[27] After the end of the war, the government of Georgia, the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the refugees began to investigate and gather facts about the allegations of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and deportation conducted by the Abkhaz side during the conflict.

In 1994 and again in 1996, OSCE officially recognized the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia and condemned the "perpetrators of war crimes committed during the conflict.

"[12][13] According to Catherine Dale from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: In a former tourist camp in Kutaisi, a large gathering of displaced people tell of the "common practice" called the "Italian necktie", in which the tongue is cut out of the throat and tied around the neck.

(Vitaliy Smyr, 1992) [31][verification needed]Below are a few examples taken from the Helsinki Human Rights Watch Reports, as well as documentation submitted for review to the United Nations and the Hague War Crimes Tribunal.

On 3 September 1992, the Russian-mediated agreement was signed between Georgian and Abkhaz separatist sides, which obliged Georgia to withdraw its military forces from the city of Gagra.

Soon after, the Georgian forces, which included Shavnabada, Avaza, and White Eagle battalions (along with their tanks and heavy artillery), left the city.

One elderly Georgian woman who lived through the October attack in Gagra recounted the following: "They brought over a blind man and his brother, who always stayed with him.

'"[34][35] After the fall of Gagra, the victors began to pillage, rape, and torture, followed by summary executions of everyone who was captured and failed to flee the city in time.

On July 4, the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus (CMPC) militia, Abkhaz formations, and the Armenian Bagramyan battalion, allegedly transported by Russian naval forces to Tkvarcheli, began their offensive on the northern Sukhumi district.

Kamani was populated mainly by Svans (a sub-ethnic group of the Georgian people) and Orthodox nuns who had been living in the church of St George in the center of the village.

In Tamaz Nadareishvili's book Genocide in Abkhazia, the eyewitness interviews of the IDPs include the following account by the elderly Georgian refugee who survived the war:[5] ...

[27] A Georgian woman who survived the Sukhumi massacre recalls her ordeal in an interview with Russian film director Andrei Nekrasov: When the Abkhaz entered my house, they took me and my seven year old son outside.

The mass killing of civilians also occurred in other parts of the Ochamchire district, mainly in Kochara (heavily populated by ethnic Georgians – 5340 persons according to pre-war estimates).

[52] Between February 8 and 13, the Abkhaz separatist militia and their allies attacked the villages and populated areas of the Gali region, killing, raping, and destroying houses.

[53] Despite the presence of Russian CIS peacekeeping forces, the massacres of ethnic Georgians were carried out between 1995 and 1996, which resulted in 450 deaths and thousands of IDPs fleeing eastwards.

The war and the subsequent systematic ethnic cleansing produced about 200,000-250,000[3] IDPs, who fled to various Georgian regions, mostly in Samegrelo (Mingrelia) (112,208; UNHCR, June 2000).

Nevertheless, between 40,000 and 60,000 refugees have returned to the Gali district since 1998, including persons commuting daily across the ceasefire line, as well as those migrating seasonally in accordance with agricultural cycles.

"[58] According to political scientist Bruno Coppieters, "Western governments took some diplomatic initiatives in the United Nations and made up an appeal to Moscow to halt an active involvement of its military forces in the conflict.