Transnistria War
The Transnistria War (Romanian: Războiul din Transnistria; Russian: Война в Приднестровье, romanized: Voyna v Pridnestrovye) was an armed conflict that broke out on 2 November 1990 in Dubăsari (Russian: Дубосса́ры, romanized: Dubossary) between pro-Transnistria (Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, PMR) forces, including the Transnistrian Republican Guard, militia and neo-Cossack units, which were supported by elements of the Russian 14th Army, and pro-Moldovan forces, including Moldovan troops and police.
Fighting intensified on 1 March 1992 and, alternating with ad hoc ceasefires, lasted throughout the spring and early summer of 1992 until a ceasefire was declared on 21 July 1992, which has held. The conflict is sometimes known as the Moldo-Russian war (Romanian: Războiul moldo-rus) in Moldova and Romania.[28]
Human rights abuses[edit]
According to a Human Rights Center "Memorial" report, local Bender eyewitnesses on 19 June 1992 saw Moldovan troops in armored vehicles deliberately firing at houses, courtyards and cars with heavy machine guns.[34] The next day, Moldovan troops allegedly shot at civilians that were hiding in houses, trying to escape the city, or helping wounded PMR guardsmen. Other local eyewitnesses testified that in the same day, unarmed men that gathered in the Bender downtown square in request of the PMR Executive Committee, were fired at from machine guns.[34] HRC observers were told by doctors in Bender that as a result of heavy fire from Moldovan positions between 19 and 20 June, they were unable to attend the wounded.[34]
From 21 to 22 June, both sides engaged in intense urban street fighting, which employed the use of tanks, artillery and grenade launchers. Officers from both sides admitted that these actions led to an increase in civilian casualties.[34] During this time period, ambulance cars were fired upon, with both sides accusing each other of the attacks. PMR sources stated that in Bender, one doctor was killed and several wounded, while six ambulance personnel were wounded in Căușeni.[34]
In the Moldovan city of Chișinău, HRC Memorial observers interviewed 12 Transnistrian prisoners of war. The prisoners stated that while being initially detained and interrogated in Căușeni, they were severely beaten with clubs and gun buttstocks by Moldovan police, as well as being threatened with firing squads. There were also reports of captured Moldovan policemen, soldiers and volunteers being beaten and tortured by PMR forces.[34]