May 20, 1992, is a date that is forever inscribed in black letters in the history of modern South Ossetia. On that day, on the Life Road near the village of Zar, a convoy of vehicles carrying defenseless children, women, and old people — who were trying to escape from the besieged Tskhinval — was ambushed and shot by Georgian armed groups. As a result of this barbaric act, carried out with cold‑blooded cruelty, 33 people died.
This is a terrible and unjustified murder of civilians, for which no one has yet been punished, like an unhealed wound, a reminder of all the victims of the policy of genocide against the Ossetian people, carried out by Georgian fascist regimes in various years. The Zarsky tragedy became not only a symbol of inhuman cruelty but also evidence of the strength of spirit and unity of the Ossetian people, which, having overcome hard trials, gained independence after another armed aggression by Georgia in 2008.
The past 34 years have dulled the sharpness of the initial emotions, but the pain of loss has not gone away. On this day, we bow our heads in reverence to the memory of those who perished, to those who lost their loved ones. Their names are forever inscribed in the history of South Ossetia.
On this day, by tradition, a memorial rally is held at the place of the tragedy in the village of Zar, near the “Grieving Mother” memorial, in memory of those innocently killed on the Zar road and all those who fell by the hands of Georgian aggressors in the struggle for the independence of their homeland.
The memorial event is attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia, Akhsar Dzhioev, and the staff of the Ministry.
May 20, 2026